Indian Wells Tennis 2015 Results: Men's and Women's Finals Scores and Reactions

Both the men's and the women's finals at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament took place Sunday.

Before two all-time greats in Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer did battle, the best young star in the women's game, Simona Halep, captured her third title of the year against Jelena Jankovic. Halep succeeded in a three-set thriller in which she staged a remarkable rally to triumph.  

With as much anticipation as there was prior to the Djokovic-Federer clash, Halep's brilliant resilience ensured that she took full advantage of a semifinals walkover against top seed Serena Williams.

Read on to see how Halep's victory unfolded, along with a recap and analysis of the deservedly hyped men's finale at the Indian Wells Masters, which Djokovic won in three sets.

Women's Final: No. 3 Simona Halep defeats No. 18 Jelena Jankovic

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The showdown between Jankovic and Halep was a match of runs and resolve from both players and massive changes of momentum, but it was the higher-seeded Halep who emerged victorious, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

After the match, Jankovic hinted that fatigue and Halep's superior energy played a part in the loss, per the tournament's official Twitter account:

TennisTV logged some of what Halep had to say to Jankovic following a most entertaining affair:

Jankovic stormed to the lead by winning five straight games to take the first set, 6-2. The New York Times' Ben Rothenberg analyzed why Halep struggled early:

Once she was down 5-4 and saw Jankovic serving for the match, Halep showed her own perseverance by taking the next four games and forcing a decisive third set.

The WTA's official Twitter account highlighted the significance of this match going the distance:

After it looked as though a reeling Jankovic would quietly slip away when she was broken to 5-3 in the third, Halep failed to serve out the match successfully; however, Halep broke her opponent for a seventh and final time to win in the subsequent game.

ESPN's Howard Bryant described the ending sequence of the match, which made the ending for Jankovic even sourer:

Hitting 70 percent of her first serves in play helped Halep keep the pressure on, even though Jankovic was having a fine day returning and converted five breaks of her own. Both players were exactly 100 of 200 points in the match, revealing just how back and forth it was—even if neither played her best.

This is a big step forward for Halep in her career. The 23-year-old has yet to win a Grand Slam title, so this marquee event at Indian Wells marks the most significant victory. As Williams continues to get later in her playing days, it seems increasingly likely that Halep will be the new face of the WTA.

Major titles should come Halep's way as long as she continues on her current trajectory. Already with more titles than she had all of last season, Halep has to be considered a huge threat at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open moving forward.

Men's Final: No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeats No. 2 Roger Federer

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The last time these two met in a final was in Dubai to kick off this month, where Federer claimed victory in straight sets. Djokovic got the latest last laugh Sunday in successfully defending his title and notching a fourth career Indian Wells title, closing Federer out in dramatic fashion, 6-3, 5-7 (5), 6-2.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal had an appropriate reaction:

Juan Jose Vallejo of The Changeover noticed how much Djokovic appeared to be feeling the weight of the match prior to the third set, which makes his resurgence all the more impressive:

The victory wasn't without anguishing moments for Djokovic, though, as Rothenberg noted:

A double fault from Federer gave Djokovic a break at 4-2 in the third, a springboard he used to hold, break again and finally end what was a wonderful match.

Bryant alluded to how much Federer would have bucked a longstanding Indian Wells trend had he managed to pull off the minor upset:

ESPN Tennis highlighted how Federer aced a rare early test on serve:

"

Federer faces a break point for just the fourth time in the tournament, but he saves it to hold for 2-all in the first set. #BNPPO15

— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) March 22, 2015"

But Djokovic's amazing counterpunching and returning ability persisted. The strength of his groundstrokes and knack for covering a ton of ground made him an especially tough adversary for Federer on the hard court.

Tennis.com's Matt Cronin detailed the turning point that gave Djoker the break at 4-2 and tilted the opening set in his favor:

The BBC's David Law analyzed how Indian Wells suited Djokovic's game better than the last time he squared off with his frequent high-profile opponent:

Andrew Eichenholz of World Tennis Magazine added interesting context to the first set's result, accentuating Djokovic's service-game dominance:

Serving was a problem for Federer to start, which definitely wasn't the case throughout his run to the final at Indian Wells this year. He hit just 51 percent of first serves in play during the first set, and he was broken again to trail 2-1 in the second.

Pushed to deuce down 4-2 later on, King Roger managed to hold and even broke Djokovic for the first time to tie things at four just when it seemed like the match would be lopsided.

The California crowd was quite pleased to see Federer get off of the mat and return to form:

It was evident that the momentum carried over when Federer moved within two points of another break, only to see Djokovic hit an ad-in, second-serve ace to hold at 5-5.

Poor serving cost Djokovic three double faults in the second-set tiebreaker that he narrowly lost—a disappointing effort with the match on his racket at one point.

No one currently active can achieve quite the dynamic combination of power and precision Djokovic can when he's firing on all cylinders. One of Djokovic's nicknames is "The Serbinator," a moniker that does justice in describing his machine-like proficiency at times.

Despite being unable to keep his peerless form intact, Djokovic still showed enough mental strength to grind through and secure the win.

This was the 38th match between the two living tennis legends, and it suggested that both will still be on top of the game for the foreseeable future.

While Djokovic has less mileage and more actual years ahead, Federer is bucking the odds by maintaining tremendous consistency as the end of his playing days draw nearer. 

Indian Wells is a tournament many accomplished tennis players hope to get the chance to win once. It shows just how tremendous both Djokovic and Federer are that they've combined for eight wins. Of the four years the pair hasn't won, Rafael Nadal has won on three such occasions.

The longer players, like Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, stay on top, the more difficult it will be for the game's up-and-coming studs to establish themselves. It's great to see the big names maintain a shocking level of greatness, but once they finally wane, it will be fascinating to see where the men's game goes.

For now, fans can revel in the quality of tennis they've been treated to for longer than was expected, and count on Djokovic and Federer to make another Grand Slam final apiece before 2015 ends.

Note: Stats courtesy of ATPWorldTour.com and WTATennis.com.