Jannik Sinner tops Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets for Miami Open title

Jannik Sinner's strong 2024 continued as he won the Miami Open with 6-3, 6-1 victory over 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday.

In a flawless display on a 79-degree afternoon, Sinner, the 2024 Australian Open champion, moved to 22-1 on 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, 13 minutes with a backhand winner.

“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.''

Chants of “Gri-gor'' resounded the entire match inside the home stadium 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.

Sinner, who was never broken and faced just one break point, was undeterred by the pro-Dimitrov crowd and could be an early favorite for the upcoming French Open.

The men's tour swings in April to the clay-court season in Europe finished off by the French at Roland Garros which begins on May 20.

Sinner won his first major at the Australian Open, then captured the title Rotterdam, and was a finalist in Indian Wells. His only loss in 2024 was in the Indian Wells final to Alcaraz.

Dimitrov, 10 years older than Sinner at 32, will vault into the top 10 rankings for the first time since 2018 while Sinner also hits a milestone, moving from No. 3 to 2 — highest ranking of his young career.

Dimitrov won the first eight points on his serve, holding at love in each game. Then the Bulgarian got broken at 2-2 when he tried to get too fancy.

Amidst 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.