Federer Whales Away in Final

Breaking news: Sea World comes to Switzerland.

Surely, three consecutive singles titles at the Pacific Life Open should mean three trophies of black whales taking up space in Roger Federer’s household. Not yet, according to the great man himself.

The top-seeded Federer, who defeated No. 12 James Blake, 7-5, 6-3, 6-0, in Sunday’s final, was feeling in an acquisitive mood, having erased a 4-1 first-set deficit.

“I hope I get the [big] whale,” said a smiling Federer, referring to the unique trophy at Indian Wells.

Guess his famous cow needs some company. “Animal Farm” meets Tennis World.

Thirty-six titles, seven of them Grand Slams, tend to generate interesting prizes, along with the requisite avalanche of statistics.

Federer, who became the first player to win three consecutive titles at Indian Wells, has not lost a match in the United States since the summer of 2004.

“Even though I don’t fall on my knees and cry and everything, it still means a lot to me,” Federer said. “Sometimes, really, the big satisfaction comes later on, maybe a few months down the road when I go like, ‘Wow, I really did well in Indian Wells.’ ”

But prizes, words and statistics don’t do justice to the first-hand experience of watching Federer in full flight. Never mind displaying a vast array of shots over a period of time, like rations. Federer unleashed nearly all the weapons in his repertoire during one point -- slice backhand, topspin backhand, driving forehand and eventually finishing with a backhand volley.

The way he pulled Blake around the court, Federer might as well have been at the control of a video game. That particular point came at deuce in the eighth game of the second set, with Blake serving at 3-4. It earned him a break point, his fourth of the game, and Federer finally secured the break with an easy forehand volley.

“I felt very, very confident on the court,” Federer said. “At some moments obviously I knew this is almost impossible that I’m going to lose this final.”

With Federer in the way, it was never going to be easy for Blake to create a storybook ending. He had reached his first Masters Series final by defeating No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain in the semifinals, and Blake will rise to No. 9 in the rankings today, breaking into the top 10 for the first time.

“Even though Roger and sometimes Rafael can go out and make it look easy, I promise you, it’s not easy,” Blake said. “I did my best. I played great tennis throughout the week, [and] got here. Roger played greater tennis.”

Federer’s two other finals here, against Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and Tim Henman in 2004, were decided in straight sets. For about half an hour, it appeared this one would be competitive. Blake, forcing the issue, broke Federer’s serve twice and led, 4-1, in the first set, reminding Federer of someone familiar.

“That’s usually what I do,” Federer said. “He gave me a little bit of my own medicine.”

Federer settled in for “a long day,” but never came close to hitting the panic button. For Blake, part of the damage was self-inflicted. He served for the opening set at 5-4 but allowed Federer back into it by hitting back-to-back double faults.

The way Federer dominated the last two sets, it was hard to imagine he ever had problems winning finals. After his news conference, he revealed it once concerned him because he had done so well in finals when he was playing in juniors.

“I thought, ‘What’s wrong?’ Now I’m over that,” he said.

The self-confidence about his game settled in long ago. And Blake made sure Federer’s other qualities were not overlooked. During the post-match presentations, Blake told the crowd about the time he received a note in 2004 while he was hospitalized in Rome after breaking his neck during practice.

It came from Federer. They didn’t know each other particularly well. But Federer acted instinctively and spoke to his girlfriend about doing something.

“I heard it was very serious,” Federer said of Blake’s injury. “And I just thought, ‘Poor guy, I hope he gets better.’ I said, ‘Mirka, let’s get a pen and paper.’ ”