Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka win at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Roger Federer is on a roll again, and Victoria Azarenka can't be stopped, either.

Each won a title in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open yesterday and earned matching $1-million paychecks, the richest in tournament history.

Federer defeated John Isner, 7-6 (7), 6-3, for his record fourth championship at Indian Wells, avenging a loss to the American who beat him in Davis Cup play.

Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova, 6-2, 6-3, in the WTA Tour's first final between the No. 1 and No. 2 players since 2008.

Federer is 39-2 since last year's U.S. Open, with his only losses to No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open and to the 11th-ranked Isner, who won on the Swiss star's home turf last month.

"This year I decided I wanted to play a bit more," Federer said. "If things went great, I knew I could be on a great run coming into Indian Wells and Miami. That's exactly what happened. I'm a bit surprised it's all gone that well."

Azarenka is 23-0 this year, the best start to a season since Martina Hingis went 37-0 to open 1997. The top-ranked Belarusian won her Tour-leading fourth title of the year.

Federer, ranked third, put away Nadal in the rain-delayed semifinals Saturday and beat Isner in a final delayed 12 minutes in the first set by raindrops. He battled a cold most of the two-week tournament.

"That I was able to come through and so convincingly at the end is amazing," Federer said. "I've really played amazing these last three matches in particular."

Federer tied Nadal for most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 career titles at 19. Federer won three straight here from 2004-06, and his fourth snapped a tie with Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang.

Isner had a breakthrough two weeks in the desert, beating top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach his first Masters 1000 final. That assured him of entering the top 10 for the first time, at No. 10, when the rankings come out today.

"I'm going to remember this one for a long time, so getting into the top 10 is nice," Isner said. "The hard thing now is staying inside of the top 10. That's what I've got to work on."