INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Facing an opponent he had never seen play, Novak Djokovic relied on some old-fashioned word of mouth.

Asking around the locker room and getting some intel from his coach, Djokovic went out and beat Alejandro Gonzalez 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Tuesday, ending the Colombian’s surprising run to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open.

“It took me a little bit to get used to it,” Djokovic said. “You’ve got new faces and new players who are able to challenge the top guys, and this is good for the sport.

It also makes us work harder and improve trying to get our game to a high level because the guys are coming up.”

Djokovic, a two-time champion at Indian Wells, earned the only two breaks of the third set, including a seven-deuce game that he closed out with a clever backhand drop volley.

John Isner, the lone American remaining in the men’s draw, defeated Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round. Isner fired 13 aces, hit 32 winners and gained a break in each set.

Top-seeded Li Na defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-4, setting up a quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia that will be a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Li won in straight sets.

Li rallied from an 0-3 deficit in the second set, winning six of the final seven games.