Del Potro crowned Citi Open Champion

After a long rain-filled week of tennis, seventh-ranked Juan Martin Del Potro came out on top capturing his third title in Washington.  Del Potro did so in a tough 3-set match (3-6,6-1,6-2) against American John Isner.  The top-seeded Del Potro used the tournament as a tune up for the upcoming U.S. Open and his conditioning was immediately put to the test.

On Thursday, Juan Martin played two matches in the same day dispatching of American Ryan Harrison and Austrailian Bernard Tomic rather quickly.  He then proceeded to knock out Germany’s Tommy Haas in a much anticipated semi-final.  On the other side of the bracket, Isner used his vaunted serve to take out the likes of Dmitry Turnsonov, Marcos Baghdatis and Alex Kuznetsov.

Isner, who was coming off his Atlanta open title, was hot out of the gate but it appeared the large quantity of matches took their toll on the twentieth ranked player.  After not having been broken in his previous three matches, Isner was broken four consecutive times by Del Potro who seemed to have solved his big serve.

Del Potro will be seen as a major player come when U.S. Open play begins August 26th.  Isner, on the other hand, will be hoping to make his first quarterfinal appearance in a grand slam this season after showing promise in D.C.  Del Potro proved Sunday just how gritty he can be and why he was your 2013 Citi Open champion.