Ice-cool Sinner torches Miami Open
Italian dominates Dimitrov to earn maiden title in Florida and sound major warning to Roland Garros rivals
MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — Jannik Sinner’s strong 2024 continued as he won the Miami Open with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday.
In a flawless display on a hot afternoon, Sinner, the 2024 Australian Open champion, moved to 22-1 for the year in winning the Miami Open for the first time. Sinner had been runner-up twice in 2021 and 2023.
In his second straight Miami Open finals appearance (Sinner lost last year to Daniil Medvedev), the 22-year-old played with an abundance of confidence despite the crowd cheering on the underdog from Bulgaria. Sinner ended it in 1 hour and 13 minutes with a backhand winner.
Sinner dropped just seven games combined in the semifinals and finals.
“This was my third time in the final and I figured this would be the lucky one,” Sinner said. “I’m really happy I can hold the big trophy.”
Throughout the match, chants of “Gri-gor” reverberated around the stadium, the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Dimitrov had created a buzz this week with upsets of top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and No 3 seed Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
“I felt like a rock star these days,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov, 10 years older than Sinner at 32, will climb into the top 10 rankings for the first time since 2018.
“Unfortunately, 10 years made a huge difference today,” Dimitrov said. “Clearly it’s Jannik’s week. He’s been playing amazing tennis.”
Sinner also hit a milestone, moving from No 3 to No 2 — the highest ranking of his young career and in Italian history.
“Being No 2, it’s an amazing feeling,” Sinner said.
“I never thought to come to this point. I come from a very normal family. My dad is still working, as my mom is too. For me, sport is one thing and life is different.”
The 22-year-old, who was never broken and faced just one break point, was undeterred by the proDimitrov crowd and could be an early favorite for the upcoming French Open.
“This is a special moment,” Sinner said after winning his second Masters 1000 title.
“You never know if this is the last time or not. So you have to enjoy this for one day, and now a new chapter is coming, clay-court season is coming, so completely different. Let’s see how I will play from now on. But for sure, the hard-court season until now has been very good.”
His only loss of the year came to Alcaraz in the semis at Indian Wells, but the Spaniard will now be looking up to his rival in the rankings this week.
The men’s tour now swings to the clay-court season in Europe, finished off by the French at Roland Garros, which begins on May 20.
“The clay-court season is coming and usually I struggle there,” Sinner said.
“Let’s see what I can do this year. You don’t have much time. We start practice and not even one week to get used to the clay.”
Dimitrov won the first eight points on his serve, holding to love in each game. Then the Bulgarian got broken at 2-2 when he tried to get too fancy.
Amid a long rally, Dimitrov hit a drop shot into the net. Thereafter, he advanced to the net twice only to get beaten by two deft passing shots by Sinner. While Dimitrov has a decent net game, Sinner is perhaps the best passer in tennis.
“He’s the player that’s a front-runner,” Dimitrov said. “If he’s up a break, I think his confidence kicks in even a little bit more. I think he’s one speed of game right now.”
His chances in the second set were wiped out when he got broken at 2-1. Sinner kept the ball deep on the final two rallies of the game and Dimitrov flubbed shots into the net. At 4-1, Dimitrov got broken again when he flubbed an easy volley long.
Darren Cahill, Sinner’s coach of two years and a former tour player and an ESPN analyst, said afterward he’s added “little things” to Sinner’s game and “a belief”.
On Saturday, Danielle Collins had the perfect send-off at her final Miami Open, beating Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 to capture the women’s singles title in her home state.
The 30-year-old Collins announced at the Australian Open that this season would be her last because she’s suffering from endometriosis, a painful ailment that affects the uterus.
Collins was teary-eyed during the on-court trophy ceremony.
“To the fans, I’ve played a lot of tennis, a few finals, and nothing close to this,” she said.
“In my home state, to come out here in front of thousands of my best friends pushing me to get over this hurdle, I was getting very emotional. It was an incredible environment. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”