Novak Djokovic has retained his BNP Paribas Open crown after beating Roger Federer in three sets in an enthralling final at Indian Wells.

The crowd in California were quickly gripped by the match as the top two seeds exchanged powerful ground strokes, with Djokovic saving the only break point to arrive in the opening five games.

Errors in the sixth game put Federer 0-40 down, and despite battling back to force deuce, Djokovic made the breakthrough before holding his nerve to serve out for the opening game.

Falling behind forced the second seed to go on the attack, and Djokovic escaped a nervy service game early in the second set.

It would prove to be decisive as Djokovic broke in the next game, and the chances of a fightback looked slim when Federer wasted two break points moments later to hand the world number one another boost.

Federer appeared to quickly run out of plans to trouble the Serb, but an error-strewn service game from Djokovic opened the door to hand his rival a break in the eighth game.

Djokovic twice missed an opportunity to convert his advantage in the tie-break, and Federer capitalised to wrap up a 7-5 success to force a deciding set.

The Serbian managed to break Federer in his first service game of the final set before the Swiss star broke back immediately.

However, an uncharacteristic double fault on break point from Federer gave the world number one the chance to open up a 5-2 lead.

Djokovic then broke his opponent for a second straight game to wrap up his second consecutive championship success at Indian Wells, claiming his 50th career title in the process.