— Photo: AP

SIMPLY SUPREME: Roger Federer's love affair with the Pacific Life Tennis Open continues.

INDIAN WELLS : Roger Federer thought James Blake's play early in their match looked familiar.

"He played aggressively, took the ball early, put away his forehands when he could, didn't miss on the backhand, made me run around," Federer said. "That's usually what I do. He gave me a little bit of my own medicine."

Only a small dose, as it turned out. After falling behind 4-1 in the opening set, the top-ranked Federer came back to beat Blake 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 on Sunday for his unprecedented third consecutive Pacific Life Open championship.

After Blake broke his service twice in the first set to take the 4-1 lead, Federer broke back in the sixth game and held serve in the seventh. Then the American held in the next to go up 5-3. Federer won his serve in the ninth.

Then Blake, serving for the set, was at deuce when he double-faulted twice in a row to make it 5-5. The rest of the match essentially was all Federer.

No panic

"He really got the better of me in the beginning, so I had to react and not panic," Federer said. "I did a good job there.

"In the end, I played fantastic tennis, with some great shots once again. To pull them off in a final, it's always a nice feeling. The form is excellent right now."

The championship signalled that Federer is back in top form following his lone loss of the year, to Rafael Nadal in Dubai this month. With the Indian Wells title, Federer kept intact his personal record of having never lost finals in consecutive tournaments.

Federer won for the 25th time in his 36 tournaments dating to the start of 2004. He is 22-1 this year and his three titles include the Australian Open, his seventh Grand Slam championship.

Blake, No. 14 and assured of moving into the top 10 for the first time when the rankings come out this week, said Federer simply turned it on after he fell behind.

"Along with a couple of mistakes by me at the end of that first set, he really picked his level up and played unbelievably, put pressure on all my service games, was kind of cruising on his," Blake said.

Cheerful applauding

Even Blake was smiling when the match ended, shaking Federer's hand and giving him a pat on the back.

The 26-year-old Blake, a former Harvard star, won titles at Sydney and Las Vegas, and upset Nadal in straight sets in the Indian Wells semifinals.

Blake, who also won both his matches in the United States' first-round Davis Cup victory over Romania last month, is 19-5 this year.

Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur took the women's doubles championship with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Virginia Ruano Pascual and Meghann Shaughnessy. — AP

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