( CNN ) -- Novak Djokovic cemented his status as the hottest tennis player on the planet this year with a superb 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory over world No . 1 Rafael Nadal in the final of the Masters Series event at Indian Wells on Sunday . The Australian Open champion claimed Roger Federer 's No . 2 ranking when he beat the 16-time grand slam champion for the third time in 2011 in Saturday 's semifinals , and followed that up with his first win over Nadal since 2009 . The Serbian claimed the 21st title of his career , and his second at Indian Wells , as he avenged his 2007 final defeat to Nadal in the Californian desert in a match lasting two hours and 25 minutes . The Spaniard , playing his first tournament since suffering a hamstring injury in his quarterfinal defeat in Melbourne in January , also beat Djokovic in the final of last year 's U.S. Open to complete his career grand slam . New No . 2 Djokovic sets up Nadal final . He was seeking to join Federer , Michael Chang and Jimmy Connors as the only players to win three times at Indian Wells . And it looked like the 24-year-old was on course for his 46th ATP Tour title after clinching the first set after a vital break in the seventh game , as he served out to love . But Djokovic , who had been punished on his second serve in the opener , battled back to take a 4-2 lead . Nadal immediately broke back , but then lost his own serve again , and Djokovic finally leveled at 1-1 after his opponent hit wide of the line as he tried to save a sixth set-point . Nadal 's error rate grew alarmingly in the deciding set , and Djokovic romped to a 4-0 lead as his serve got stronger as the match went on to extend his unbeaten run to 18 matches this year . The 23-year-old claimed the $ 605,500 first prize after becoming only the third player to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament twice , joining Nikolay Davydenko and David Nalbandian . However , Djokovic -- who spent 26 weeks at second in the rankings last year -- will still be almost 4,000 points behind Nadal when the ATP rankings list is released on Monday . `` I lost today , but I lost to one of the greatest , '' said Nadal , whose last title came in Japan last October . Meanwhile , women 's No . 1 Caroline Wozniacki claimed her second title of the year after beating Marion Bartoli 6-1 2-6 6-3 in the WTA Tour final at the same venue earlier on Sunday . The 20-year-old Dane captured the 14th crown of her short career as she survived a second-set fightback from the first Frenchwoman to reach the Indian Wells final . Wozniacki , the runner-up last year , handed 15th seed Bartoli her seventh defeat in 12 career title matches . `` This is such an amazing event and everyone loves playing here . I 'm already looking forward to playing here next year , '' Wozniacki said . Bartoli , the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up , is set to return to the top-10 in the rankings when the new list is released . `` Caroline , you should be very proud of yourself and I wish you all the best in the future . I know your goal is to get a grand slam -- I 'm sure you 'll get it very soon , '' she said at the award ceremony .
New world No . one Novak Djokovic wins Serbian Wells title for the second time . Serbian prevents top-ranked Rafael Nadal from achieving record-equaling second win . The 23-year-old claims the $ 605,500 first prize following 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory . Women 's No . 1 Caroline Wozniacki beats Marion Bartoli in CNN event final .