Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic held off a fightback by Mardy Fish to win the Pacific Life Open final 6-2 5-7 6-3.
Two months after claiming his first grand slam crown in Melbourne, the third-seeded Serb broke Fish once in the final set before sealing victory in just over two hours on court.
Defeat ended a fairytale run for the American, who had beaten three top 10 opponents including Roger Federer in the semi-finals.
He threatned to pull off another upset when he battled back from losing the first set.
Deciding set
Facing a 4-2 deficit in the second, Fish secured two breaks of serve to force a decider, much to the delight of the crowd in Indian Wells.
Djokovic refused to be beaten though, an early break in the second game giving him a 2-0 lead en route to his second title of the year.
"It's been a dream start, of course," he said.
"Before I started playing this season, I said that my two goals are to be consistent with the results, I reach the Masters and hopefully win one Grand Slam. I did all that in a very, very small amount of time."
The world number three had lost in the final of the tournament in 2007 to Rafael Nadal.
He gained revenge on the Spaniard by beating him in the semi-finals of this year's event. He will also now close the gap between the two in the world rankings.
Momentum
Although disappointed to have fallen at the final hurdle Fish was quick to draw the positives on an excellent week that means he will return to the top 50.
"I think one thing has to be stated that I did play about as well as I can," he said.
"I know I came in here and I was slightly subdued, probably because I just didn't really realise what had happened to get a few wins against players like that, and to play a match like today and be in there.
"It would be really nice to take this momentum and take this confidence into next week."
Top-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic clinched her first WTA title of the year and her fourth in 11 months at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells.
The 20-year-old Australian Open runner-up beat Russian second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-3 in just 81 minutes for her sixth career title.
It was Ivanovic's fifth win in six meetings with the Russian, who was playing in her third final this year and for the third time came up short.
The 22-year-old former US Open champion has now lost eight of her last nine finals.
The first set was close until Ivanovic pushed Kuznetsova twice off the court into forced errors for a break for 5-4 then served a love game to close it out.
In the second, the two traded early breaks but Kuznetsova was increasingly struggling and from 2-2 lost the last four games.
Aggressive
"I just tried to move into the court, and I think I did that well today," Ivanovic said. "We both started pretty well and I thought we played some good tennis.
"I knew I needed to play aggressively today and just tried to move into the court as much as possible. I think I did that well today."
Kuznetsova was upbeat after yet another final defeat, adding: "It's painful any time you lose but I prefer to get to the final and lose.
"I think she played incredibly well in the first set, every important point she hit the ball on the line.
"In the second set, I felt much more pressure because I had to go for it a bit more and she broke me three times. I think I played a bit too much to her forehand today."
cant believe fed lost again, loved the fact nadal got pasted
