Roger Federer had never lost back-to-back finals and he kept that record intact by winning the Pacific Life Open.

The world number one from Switzerland posted a 7-5 6-3 6-0 victory over surprise finalist James Blake on Sunday to claim his record third straight Indian Wells title.

Federer had his Open Era-record 56-match hardcourt winning streak snapped by world number two Rafael Nadal in the final in Dubai earlier this month.

But Federer, who has been ranked first for 111 straight weeks, bounced back after a slow start to claim his third title of the year - along with crowns at Doha, Qatar and the Australian Open.

The 12th seed from the United States, Blake spoiled the emerging Federer-Nadal rivalry by upsetting the Spanish teenager, 7-5 6-3, in the semi-finals on Saturday.

However, his hopes of becoming the first player to record back-to-back wins over world numbers one and two since Federer turned the trick by taking out Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick at the 2003 Masters Cup in Houston were dashed.

Despite falling to 0-3 lifetime against Federer, Blake will jump up seven places to a career-best of ninth when the ATP rankings are released on Monday.

Federer had early difficulty finding rhythm against Blake's aggressive all-court game, getting broken twice early to fall behind, 4-1, but he managed to turn it around and breezed to the win in front of more than 16,000 fans at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

"There was no need to panic," said Federer, who smacked 32 winners and broke Blake seven times in the one hour, 42 minute sweep.

"I believe very much in my game and my ability.

"There's no need to panic when you're down.

"It's just a matter of accepting he's playing well and try to get back into it."

After taking a two-set lead, Federer steamrolled in the final set and claimed the victory on his third match point when Blake sent a service return wide.