Roger Federer successfully defended his Indian Wells ATP Masters Series title, defeating Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday's final to claim his 26th career singles crown.
The world number one Federer is undefeated in his past 17 finals and has won seven titles in eight tournaments dating back to the US Open.
"This week I have been playing and feeling fantastic," said the 23-year-old Federer, who earned 455,000 dollars in first-place prize money.
In the final game of Sunday's championship he built a 40-0 lead then clinched the victory with an ace.
Switzerland's Federer is off to a personal best 26-1 this year and looks to be as close to unbeatable as anyone has been on the tour in years.
He was certainly dominant in this tournament, having not dropped a set in winning back-to-back Indian Wells titles. He beat Tim Henman 6-3, 6-3 in last year's final.
Federer fired 15 aces and hammered 41 winners to Hewitt's four aces and 18 winners in the one hour, 52 minute match.
Four-time major winner Federer has won a record 17 straight finals he has appeared in, going back to October 2003 and he is 41-1 since the start of the US Open.
Federer also continued his domination over world number two Hewitt, winning the last seven encounters, including six victories in 2004.
This was the first Indian Wells final between the number one and number two players in the world since 1995, when Pete Sampras beat fellow American Andre Agassi.
Federer jack-hammered his way through the men's draw with ease, earning straight-set victories over Mardy Fish, Gilles Muller, Ivan Ljubicic, Nicolas Kiefer and Guillermo Canas. His toughest test was against Ljubicic who he beat in two tiebreakers.
Federer has won four of the past six Grand Slams, including back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 2004 and 2003.
Hewitt has played well in big tournaments the last six months, but titles have eluded him.
The 24-year-old Hewitt came into the final as a huge underdog. Unlike Federer who cruised through his semi-final in straight sets, Hewitt was coming off after a marathon two hour, 33 minute semi-final win over Andy Roddick the day before.
Hewitt looked tired in the first set and Federer began the match by breaking Hewitt's serve in the opening game. Hewitt's frustration grew as the set progressed as he smashed a ball against the score clock after being broken again in the seventh game.
Federer closed out the first set by not dropping a point in a flawless serving game.
The point of the match, and possibly the year, came in the third game of the second set when the players went toe-to-toe during a 45-hit rally that brought the crowd of 9,000 out of their seats.
Federer ran down two lobs during the rally but Hewitt eventually took the point.
It ended when Hewitt's half volley landed just over the net and was chased down by Federer. Federer got the ball back to the middle where Hewitt was waiting to volley it into the open side of the court. Both players received a standing ovation and Hewitt went to hold his serve in the game and level the set at 2-2.
He broke Hewitt again in the first game of the third set and kept the pressure on until the end.
Sunday's final marked a return to the best-of-five set format in the Indian Wells championship match.