Roddick wins Washington title

US top seed Andy Roddick won his third ATP Washington Classic title, defeating upstart John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) Sunday to end a fairy-tale run by the unheralded 416th-ranked American newcomer.
Roddick, who also won at Washington in 2001 and 2005, captured his 23rd career singles crown and second of the year at the 600,000-dollar tuneup for the US Open, the year's final Grand Slam event that begins in three weeks.
"I was happy with the way I could control things with my serve," Roddick said. "I was putting pressure on him. I was making him serve well out of jams. I returned well. If I was putting a racket on it I was putting it on the court."
Wild card Isner missed out on a perfect ending to a week that saw him win five matches in a row in third-set tie-breakers, thought to be an unprecedented feat, after making the field only because wild card Fernando Gonzalez withdrew.
"The whole week has been a dream come true. It's amazing," Isner said. "I will always remember playing Andy Roddick in an ATP final. It's a big honour. I will never ever forget it. It's unbelievable."
Fifth-ranked Roddick took the 74,250-dollar top prize while 6-foot-9 Isner, who fired 144 aces and hit 70.4 percent of first serves this week, will jump to about 190th in the rankings and received a Cincinnati Masters wild card.
"With that serve, he is going to have a chance in every match he plays," Roddick said. "The guy is going to have a hard time not winning matches. It's going to be hard for him not to have a good career."
Isner, 22, surrendered a break at love in the seventh game of the first set, netting two backhands and a forehand before sending a forehand long. Roddick served out to the finish, ending the set with an ace. "I knew it was a new experience for him. I wanted to put the pressure on early. I didn't want him to have an easy match," Roddick said.
"It's tough not to hit the ball right at him. He's everywhere at the net. I wasn't so much trying to pass him on the first ball as much as make him react." Isner smacked the ball into the net on an easy overhead smash on the first point of the ninth game in the second set.