Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 to successfully defend his Indian Wells crown and claim his 50th career ATP title on Sunday.

The 27-year-old world number one from Serbia also captured his fourth Indian Wells crown and is now tied with world number two Federer for the most men's titles in the California desert.

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It was another epic struggle in a long list of hardcourt battles between the two top players in the world, who have met 38 times with Swiss great Federer still holding a slight 20-18 edge.

Djokovic had lost his last two matches to Federer in straight sets after beating him in last year's Wimbledon final. The five-time Australian Open winner also needed three sets to beat Federer in the 2014 Indian Wells title match.

Djokovic's range of emotions Sunday went from shaking while trying to take a drink of water during a changeover, to breaking a racquet in fit of anger to the sweet bliss of beating the 17-time Grand Slam winner and one of the greatest of all-time on the big stage.

Djokovic and Federer have combined to win eight of the last 12 Indian Wells titles but this is the first time they have met in back-to-back finals.

Federer insisted people shouldn't read too much into this loss.

Djokovic blasted eight aces, 26 winners and broke Federer five times in the two hour, 17 minute battle in front of a crowd of about 15,000 inside the Tennis Garden stadium.

Djokovic surpassed his coach Boris Becker (49) to become the 12th player in Open Era history with 50 ATP Tour titles.

Even though he had the crowd on his side, Federer couldn't overcome his poor serving and 43 unforced errors.

Federer's best moments came in the last half of the middle set when he broke Djokovic for the first time in the match to rally from an earlier break and level the set at 4-4.

Federer won the second set tiebreaker 7-5 but he got some help from Djokovic who made three double faults and then hammered a backhand long on set point.

But Djokovic broke Federer again early in the third to grab a 2-0 lead. The Swiss got one back in a 10-minute third game that extended the epic battle to the two-hour mark.

The tight third game went back and forth until Federer won it on the fifth break chance after Djokovic slammed a backhand into the net.