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…

In his fourth match of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a semifinal contest against fellow American John Isner, #1 Andy Roddick was tested early and often, losing the his first set of the tournament and struggling to convert on break points. But finally, on serve at 5-5 in the third and decisive set, Roddick solved the powerful 6′ 9″ Isner (the last unseeded player standing) to earn a break, following up with a solid service…

You go into a match with Ivo Karlovic assuming you’re not going to break his serve. Or, in the words of Andy Roddick, “getting down an early break against Karlovic is a recipe for disaster.” Fortunately for Roddick, he had never before dropped a service game to the Croat, a point raised he raised last evening in anticipation of the match and worried would jinx him today. It well may have. Karlovic broke Roddick early…

Andy Roddick earned his 500th career win yesterday evening, defeating fellow American Sam Querrey in Rock Creek Park. The milestone puts him in an elite rank of only four active players that includes Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, and Carlos Moya. The win puts him in today’s quarterfinal round. Service was uncharacteristically off for both players in the early going of the match, with each dropping their first service game in a back-and-forth set. Querrey showed…

Crowd favorite Andy Roddick had little trouble with Benjamin Becker last night, cruising to a straight set victory (6-3, 6-2) in his first match of the tournament. After an extended break since his defeat to Roger Federer in the Wimbeldon final, Roddick was far from the top of his service game, landing only 58 percent of his firsts and routinely hitting in the one hundred and teens — though at one point he did hit…

Things heat up in Rock Creek Park this evening as the man many local tennis fans have been waiting for, Andy Roddick, finally takes the court at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Roddick, in his first action since Wimbledon, will face Benjamin (no relation to Boris) Becker no earlier than 7 p.m., after Becker outlasted American Robby Ginepri last night in a closely contested match featuring multiple tiebreakers. Roddick was originally scheduled to play last…

Washington tennis fans have just barely had time to digest the Washington Kastles’ triumphant World Team Tennis championship. But on the heels of their dramatic victory, it’s time once again for a longer-standing rite of D.C. summers: the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

21 minutes. That’s how long it took top seeded Andy Roddick to win the first set from unheralded Serbian Viktor Troicki. Roddick’s fall from grace, however, lasted a bit longer. Troicki found his game soon after, breaking Roddick’s massive serve twice in the second set and continually frustrating the top seed with his off pace ground strokes, taking the final two sets for a 0-6, 6-2, 6-4. win. Roddick seemed confused as to what to…

The top seed at the Legg Mason Classic, the fast-hitting Andy Roddick, has not exactly coasted on his way to defend his championship this year. In his second-round match last night, he dropped the first set to Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank, 4-6. Roddick won the second set, but Schwank pressed Roddick into a tie-breaker for the match, which Roddick won without too much trouble. Other players to advance to the quarterfinal were Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, over…

Washington’s most important tennis event, the Legg Mason Classic, got under way this week. Most of the major names in men’s tennis are in Beijing this month, but ninth-ranked Andy Roddick, skipping the Olympics to be ready for the U.S. Open, decided to come back to the FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park to defend his title. Roddick is favored to win a second consecutive Legg Mason title, but he was happy to survive…