Carlos Alcaraz overcame a sluggish start and finished with a flourish to successfully defend his Indian Wells crown with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win over Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday.
The win ends a title drought for the world No. 2 that stretched back to last summer's Wimbledon and makes him the first man to defend a championship in the California desert since Novak Djokovic won three straight between 2014 and 2016.
Alcaraz showed no ill effects from the ankle injury that forced him to withdraw from last month's Rio Open but said it was on his mind coming into the event.
"Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began I had a lot of doubts about my ankle," Alcaraz said.
"But once I stepped on the court for the first round it started to feel better and as I said after every match, I was feeling better and better. Really, really happy to be able to win this tournament again."
In a rematch of last year's final, Alcaraz started slow, spraying errors around the court to fall 3-0 down but raised his level to get back on serve and eventually force a tie-break.
In the closely fought te-breaker, Alcaraz pounded a forehand that his Russian opponent could not redirect safely in bounds to hand Alcaraz the first set.
The Spaniard romped through the second set, raising his arms in the air and letting out a roar when Medvedev missed another forehand wide on match point.
Second seed Alcaraz smacked 25 winners to Medvedev's 11 and was especially effective against his opponent's second serves.
"I enjoy playing these kind of matches with you," Alcaraz told Medvedev during the trophy ceremony. "Hopefully more finals ahead."
Medvedev, who briefly lost his temper with some fans in the Alcaraz-friendly crowd in the second set, was gracious in defeat.
"I'd like to congratulate Carlos," Medvedev said during the trophy ceremony.
"It's definitely your court, you like it here. Congrats to you and your team. You are doing a great job so continue this way and hopefully one day you can let me play a little bit better here," he said.
"Amazing job today and amazing job throughout the two weeks."
It was an eventful stay in the California desert for the 20-year-old Alcaraz.
The two-time major champion was stung on the forehead when a swarm of bees invaded the court on Thursday, kept his No. 2 ranking by ending Jannik Sinner's 19-match winning streak in the semis and slayed the big-serving fourth seed Medvedev in the final.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek dominated ninth seed Maria Sakkari to win the women's final 6-4, 6-0 and claim the title for a second time in the California desert on Sunday.
In a rematch of the 2022 showpiece, Swiatek's precise serving and speedy defence proved too much for her Greek opponent and the Pole reeled off the final eight games to close out a tournament where she never dropped a set.
"I'm really proud of myself, I'm super happy," Swiatek told reporters. "Even though this tournament looked like, the scores, maybe I had everything under control, it wasn't from the beginning to the end so easy.
"So I'm happy I could improve during the tournament. I felt really good on the last two matches, big amount of confidence. I'm really proud of myself."
Swiatek, who won her third straight Qatar Open in Doha last month, beamed a big smile on the sun-soaked stadium court after getting her hands on the Indian Wells trophy again.
"Right now I just feel I've done really good work," said the 22-year-old, who was upset in the third round of January's Australian Open.
"It hasn't been easy after Australia, and I've been working hard to play well and to handle everything mentally well."
The top seed came out firing in Sunday's final, building a 3-0 lead before Sakkari worked her way back into the set for 4-4.
But on her third set point, the Pole dragged Sakkari from one side of the court to the other before capturing the opener with a forehand winner.
Swiatek dominated the second, crushing a running backhand for a 3-0 lead and then breaking serve for 4-0 as the outmatched Greek began to fade.
A backhand winner down the line put Swiatek a game away and she sealed the win by breaking serve to love when Sakkari's forehand sailed wide on match point.
"It's an amazing thing to be standing here again," Swiatek told the crowd during the trophy ceremony.
"Thank you for really making this feel like home. Every year that I come here I feel really positive vibes because of you."
Swiatek is now 19-4 in career finals and 8-2 at the WTA 1000 level while Sakkari has a 2-8 record in showpiece matches.
"I'm sorry I couldn't put up a better fight," Sakkari told the crowd after the match lasted just over an hour.
"It was pretty quick for you guys but credit to Iga... You and your team have created something incredible. I'm really hoping we can play a lot more finals."
Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion, has now won a WTA-leading 20 matches this season and has two titles after her triumph at the Qatar Open in February.
The Pole will look to capture her second "Sunshine Double" with a win at the Miami Open.
