The Australian former world No. 1 had told all and sundry coming into the Australian summer that he was feeling fresh and injury-free for the first time in several years, and after some good performances during the week in Melbourne his performance on Saturday was a statement.
Hewitt beat world No. 15 Canadian big hitter Milos Raonic 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 to start the AAMI Classic on Wednesday before booking his spot in the final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over world No. 6 Tomas Berdych.
However, coming up against world No. 7 Del Potro was always going to be a big task with the 2009 US Open champion getting himself set for a crack at a second Grand Slam title later this month at the Australian Open.
The 31-year-old two-time Grand Slam winner came out on fire against Del Potro, though, cruising to take the first set 6-1 as he overpowered the Argentine, unsettled him and pulled off as many tremendous winners as trademark hustle points during the set.
He then raced to a 2-0 lead in the second set after breaking Del Potro's serve, but the 24-year-old broke back for the first time in the match. However, he couldn’t maintain the momentum as Hewitt had all the answers claiming the set 6-4 to claim the title at Kooyong.
The victory is Hewitt's second AAMI Classic title after also winning in 2011 when he beat Frenchman Gael Monfils in the final. It is now three straight years that an Australian has won the tournament as well after Bernard Tomic was victorious last year.
Hewitt joins Roger Federer to have won at Kooyong twice with only American trio Michael Chang, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick ahead of him having won it three times each.
While Hewitt will now turn his focus to his record 17th straight Australian Open and his first round opponent, Serbian world No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, he that couldn’t hide his pride about how he has been able to start off 2013 against such a strong opponent.
"He is a fantastic competitor and is probably one of my closest mates on tour, even though he's Argentinean. He has been fantastic and we always practice together at a lot of the big tournaments, and he's one of the best players in the world, and it won't be long until he's pushing to be in top three or four in the world again," Hewitt said.
"Obviously I was coming back from another surgery last year and it's never easy, but everyone in my corner had belief in me that I could do all the hard yards to fight back again with our backs against the wall. We all gave 100 per cent and I think I am moving well, so I'm pretty happy now heading into the Australian Open."
Earlier, Berdych took third place for the AAMI Classic with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 over former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.