By Kamakshi Tandon

Coming into the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken all but one of the Masters Series and Grand Slam tournaments they’ve played for the last two years.

With Federer having lost in his opening match at Indian Wells this week, it was once more unto the breach for Nadal, who came away with his first Pacific Life Open title after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 in the final.

Nadal also delivered a dominating performance in his semifinal against Andy Roddick, whose Masters Series win in Cincinnati last summer broke the Federer and Nadal duopoly at the big events.

The win means that Nadal’s trophy cabinet will get its first new addition in eight months. “I have a room upstairs in my house [with a] gym for practice sometimes, and I have sofa, television and I have shelves for the trophies. I have all Masters Series there,” he said.

After being shut out of the winner’s circle since his triumph at Roland Garros in May, Nadal has now re-established his claim to being Federer’s closest challenger. “It was very important,” he said. “I have eight months without any title, but I come back with a big one.”

He traced his return to form back to mid-February, during a week of practice at home in Mallorca. Though he had tough matches all through his next event in Dubai and lost in the quarterfinals there, he was satisfied with the level of tennis he was producing and came into Indian Wells with renewed self-belief. “I said before the tournament, I am feeling great,” said Nadal. “I arrive here with good confidence because I was playing very good tennis in Dubai.”

While his recent results had been mediocre by his standards – just two semifinals after winning five titles and reaching the final of Wimbledon – he felt the difference in his performances wasn’t huge. “Quarterfinals, semifinals, I always there,” he said. “Sometimes you’re a little luckier, a little bit more confident, but I wasn’t having a disaster these eight months, you know?”

Still, he’ll be hoping that this week’s run means that period is over. Challenging Federer for the top spot, however, is not in his sights yet.  “Right now I am No. 2 and Roger is No. 1 and far away of the others,” said Nadal, who’s been No. 2 for a record 86 straight weeks.

“My goal is continuing winning tournaments and continue being in the top positions of the ranking. But right now, maybe go to No. 1 is very, very difficult and I am not thinking about that.”

The 20-year-old is still far and away the best in his age-group, however, with two Grand Slams already to his credit. That doesn’t mean he’s not trying to beef up his game, working on developing a bigger serve and trying to end points more quickly by being more aggressive. “I am very young and I need to improve my game,” he said.

His contemporaries are trying to catch up, with 19-year-olds Djokovic and Andy Murray both reaching the Indian Wells semifinals.

With his result here this week, Djokovic will now eclipse Nadal as the youngest man in the top 10. “I reach the top 10 right now, my goal for this year,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to practice and improve more and try to remain in the top 10 to the end of the year and try to reach the Masters [Cup] in Shanghai.”

Djokovic acknowledged that he was not at his best today, but was also quick to credit Nadal with a good performance, unlike their last meeting at the French Open when Djokovic said he felt he had been in control when he retired down two sets in the quarterfinals. “Nadal was the better player today. I have to congratulate him,” said Djokovic. "I didn't play my best tennis, and I know that... I was not a 100 percent fit. But again, that is not the reason for my game today."

The first set was a blur as Nadal came out firing while Djokovic took some time to adjust to the occasion. “I was pretty nervous on the start,” said Djokovic, who was playing in his first Masters Series final. “I tried not to think about it, but it didn’t work out. He played really good in the start of the match, two breaks, and then it’s difficult to come back.”

The two were more evenly matched in the second, but Djokovic missed his best chance to get back into the match by letting go of three break points in the fourth game – one on a failed dropshot attempt.

The Serb then had to dig himself out of trouble in the very next game, helped by a Hawk-Eye overrule that gave him an ace and had Nadal peering at the court for a mark. The Spaniard had already expressed skepticism about Hawk-Eye in Dubai.

But the Spaniard soon returned to his aggressive play and gave Djokovic few other opportunities the rest of the way.

Overall, however, it was a good week for Djokovic. Apart from breaking into the top ten when the rankings come out on Monday and reaching the biggest final of his career so far, he was presented his runner’s up trophy by Boris Becker. "When my mother was giving me milk, I was watching Boris win Wimbledon," Djokovic told the crowd during his runner's up speech.

“It’s a really nice thing because he’s one of my idols... and he’s the person I was practicing with for quite a long time, with [Nikki] Pilic,” added Djokovic afterwards, referring to the period he spent training at the Pilic academy in Munich. “He helped me a lot, I just told him in the ceremony.”