'Weird' Djokovic falls on return as Federer rolls on

Novak Djokovic has failed to impress in his return to the tour at Indian Wells but Roger Federer escaped a minor scare to progress to the third round.

Djokovic, who has only played one tournament this year, played an at-times sloppy match against Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel.

The world No.109 Daniel won 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-1, partly on the back of 62 unforced errors from Djokovic.

The Serbian former world No.1 banished the sleeve he wore on his elbow in Melbourne but his new serving technique collapsed, recording four double faults and winning just 65 per cent of his first-serve points.

"It felt like the first match I have ever played on the tour, very weird," the 12-times grand slam champion told reporters.

"I just completely lost rhythm, everything, struggled a little bit with the health the last couple of weeks.

"I was grateful to be out on the court after surgery that quickly but at the same time just didn't feel good at all. Nerves were there.

"I made so many unforced errors."

Djokovic took six months off after Wimbledon last year and returned at January's Australian Open, where he lost in the fourth round, before undergoing elbow surgery in Switzerland shortly after.

Daniel will face Leonardo Mayer in the next round.

Meanwhile, the top-seeded Federer overcame a rain-enforced postponement to defeat Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3 7-6 (8-6) in his first match of the tournament.

The match began under cloudy skies on Saturday local time and was interrupted before being held over to Sunday with the score at 2-2 in the second set.

Delbonis held strong in the second set and came from 2-5 down to hold a set point in the tiebreak.

Federer, however, extended his play to win three consecutive points and set up a match with 25th seed Filip Krajinovic.

with AAP