This is only the third time in his career that Sela has reached the third round of a Masters tournament. He will meet Cyprus's Marcos Baghdatis (102) who stunned  Diego Schwartzman, the world no. 17, 7-5 6-4 in the same stage of the competition.

Ranked 97, Sela seemed in danger of slipping out of the world's top 100 again, before this week. Turning 33 next month, Sela has been showing the kind of inconsistent form at Indian Wells that has characterised his career.

The Israeli had already packed his bags to leave Indian Wells after being hammered 0-6 3-6 by America's Evan King, ranked just 200, in the second round of the qualifying tournament. But Sela sneaked into the main draw as a lucky loser after Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin withdrew at the last moment with a shoulder injury.

Sela celebrated by dispatching Germany's Peter Gojowczyk, ranked 50, in the first round 6-4, 6-4 before taking on Edmund. He began poorly against Australian semi-finalist Edmund who was returning from injury. Edmund led 3-1 and had a match point to break Sela's serve for the second time but the Israeli rallied and took the first set 6-4. The pattern repeated itself in the second set with Edmund breaking Sela but again the Israeli came back to win 6-4.