Bernard Tomic has pulled off a shock result by beating eighth seed David Ferrer in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Ferrer squandered eight of his nine break point opportunities in the opening set, and he wasn't as ruthless as Tomic, who broke the Spaniard twice en route to winning it 7-5.

Ferrer struggled with his wayward ground strokes throughout the match, and this affected him as he failed to convert any of his five break points in the second set.

Tomic, sensing that victory was on the cards, played with more urgency and he broke Ferrer late on, before he served out an impressive victory.