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Roger Federer held off John Isner for the win. (CP)

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photos by Mark Terrill / the associated press Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova for the title. (CP)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Roger Federer defeated John Isner 7-6 (7), 6-3 to win his record fourth BNP Paribas Open title Sunday, avenging a loss to the American who beat him in the Davis Cup.

Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 for the women's title in the WTA Tour's first final between the No. 1 and No. 2 players since 2008.

Federer and Azarenka each earned $1 million, the richest winner's checks in the tournament's history. The runners-up earned $500,000 each.

Federer improved to 39-2 since last year's U.S. Open, with his only losses to No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open and the 11th-ranked Isner, who won on the Swiss star's home turf last month. Federer, ranked third, avenged both those defeats in consecutive days at Indian Wells, putting away Nadal in the rain-delayed semifinals Saturday and then Isner.

Federer's victory tied him with Nadal for most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 career titles at 19. Federer won three straight titles here from 2004-06 and his fourth snapped a tie with Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang.

Isner had a breakthrough two weeks in the desert, beating top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach his first Masters 1000 final. That assured him of entering the top 10 for the first time at No. 10 when the latest rankings come out today.

The big-serving American actually had three fewer aces than Federer's seven, with his fastest serve clocked at 135 m.p.h. Federer broke him on Isner's netted backhand volley to go up 4-3 in the second, then closed out the match on Isner's forehand that landed in the net.

Azarenka broke Sharapova six times in improving her record to 23-0 this year, the best start to a season since Martina Hingis went 37-0 to open 1997. The top-ranked Belarusian won her Tour-leading fourth title of the year.

"It's important to stay humble and to know that what I have been doing is working," Azarenka said. "Don't forget those little details, and being disciplined, professional off the court is as important as being determined and really hard working on the court."

The women's final was a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Azarenka won 6-3, 6-0 in January to keep Sharapova from regaining the No. 1 ranking. This time, Sharapova was error-prone during the 1 1/2-hour match on an unusually cold, windy day in the desert. The second-ranked Russian kept hitting close to the lines and missing.

"She's extremely solid and she makes you work for every point," Sharapova said. "Maybe she forces you to want to do a little bit more than either you should or would want to. She's really fit, playing with a lot of confidence, and you can definitely sense that when she's moving around the court and hitting the ball. I just made too many unforced errors at the wrong time and wasn't solid enough."

Azarenka joked that the best thing about being No. 1 is "you don't really have to find yourself in the draw anymore. It's the first one."

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 19, 2012 C7