Novak Djokovic defeats Federer to claim the BNP Paribas title at Indian Wells
The world number 1, Djokovic, dropped just five games in beating Murray in the semi-finals on Saturday and then defeated Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, adding another trophy to his name. This was a successful defence of the title he won a year ago, once again defeating Federer, equalling the Swiss’s four Indian Wells crowns. Aside from that, Djokovic is in such frightening form that the best tennis tipsters consider it hard to see who can stop him in 2015, although that may change with the clay-court season in particular at the French Open, which is just around the corner.
At 3-2 up in the first set, Djokovic went a break clear, a brilliant backhand passing shot forcing Federer to stick out a racket and dump the ball in the tramlines. That was enough for the Serb to go ahead and win the opener 6-3. He struck earlier in the second, breaking in the third game when Federer slapped a forehand into the net, and even when he gave his opponent a rare chance on his own delivery he saved two break points in the next game. It was an uphill struggle for Federer, who earned credit for saving a break point that would have pretty much finished things off in the seventh game, and he went on to earn break points of his own in the next. A fabulous forehand saved the first, but when Djokovic double-faulted he gave Federer a second and he was forced into pinning a one-hander of his own into the net to restore parity. Fired up, Federer quickly backed up the break and thought he had a window on Djokovic’s next service game as he got to deuce, but he was quickly shut down. Federer was in control now, though, and made it count in the tie-break. He first went long with an open-court forehand volley, giving Djokovic a mini break, but quickly got one of his own, although when he planted an overhead into the net he was 5-3 down. But back he came, Djokovic blinking first after an epic rally and hitting a passing shot into the tape, before double faulting to 5-5. Amazingly he followed that up with another double-fault, and Federer was back on terms at 1-1.
Djokovic shrugged off the disappointment, rattling off two games to quickly build an early 2-0 lead in the decider, but Federer produced a superb game to break back. The Serb’s reaction was to smash his racket, thus earning himself a warning from the umpire but after cooling off, the world No1 held and then broke before upping his concentration furter to pull three games clear.
As many sports betting experts had predicted, after two hours and 17 minutes on court, Djokovic was crowned king in the Californian desert once again.