Written by DCist contributor Joe Parilla

Defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro defeated #1 seed Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic final on Sunday. In a scintillating match between the tournament’s top seeds, Del Potro overcame a solid performance by Roddick to become the first back-to-back winner at the Washington ATP event since Andre Agassi in 1999. Del Potro, the #6 ranked player in the world, displayed an extraordinarily calm demeanor while relying on five timely aces and well-placed baseline winners to outlast Roddick in the tense third set tiebreaker.

The 20-year old Argentinian battled heat exhaustion and a loud, sweaty pro-Roddick crowd to earn his second win on tour in 2009. Del Potro took more chances and hit winners down the stretch, presumably to avoid long points in the heat, and possibly to avail the 7,500 spectators from roasting on the Fitzgerald Tennis Center bleachers. In describing his opponent’s strategy, Roddick chose a classic metaphor.

“He rolled the dice and it came up Yahtzee,” said the American.