Djokovic, Halep come away with BNP Paribas Open titles

Roger Federer sat comfortably as king of the Desert for the past nine years, but Novak Djokovic made sure to give Federer some company at the top. Djokovic beat Federer for the second-straight year in the BNP Paribas Open men’s final, earning his fourth title at the desert tennis tournament with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2 win. The fourth championship ties Federer’s record of four wins at Indian Wells. Djokovic is also the last man to repeat as tournament champ since Roger Federer won three straight between 2004-2006.

In the women’s final, Simona Halep nearly had her chance at a third title in 2015 slip away. The Romanian, ranked third in the world, dropped the first set 6-2 to 2010 BNP Paribas Open champ Jelena Jankovic. But Halep battled back from down a break and took the second set 7-5 and eventually came away with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 win. The match had 18 service breaks between the two players, with only 12 service holds.