Sinner Wins Miami Open Title On His Third Try

Jannik Sinner, Miami Open
Jannik Sinner (photo: Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium

MIAMI/WASHINGTON, April 1, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

The 39th edition of the Miami Open concluded Sunday afternoon with a much-anticipated men’s singles championship match, featuring World No. 3 and second seed Jannik Sinner against World No. 12 Grigor Dimitrov, the 11th seed, with both attempting to win their second ATP Masters 1000 title.

Sinner entered his third Miami Open final in four years (after being runner-up in 2021 and 2023) carrying a 2-1 head-to-head advantage. The 22-year-old Italian from the South Tyrol won both of their meetings last year, including in the third round in Miami in straight sets. Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Bulgarian entered the final after putting together a solid fortnight run in south Florida by scoring a trio of Top-10 wins – including back-to-back against Top-5 foes Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. Could he add to it?

As it happened on this 79-degree afternoon, the third time was the charm for Sinner, who dominated Dimitrov from first ball to last ball. In just 73 minutes, Sinner won 6-3, 6-1, on the strength of four breaks of Dimitrov’s serve. He faced just one break point, in his second service game of the match and saved it. Soon, it became one-way traffic in favor of Sinner – and Dimitrov could just sit back and appreciate it. The young Italian wrapped up his big victory with a love hold and hit a solid third-shot backhand winner on his first championship-point opportunity.

Sinner hit four aces, won 88 percent of his first-serve points – dropping only three points – struck 15 winners and made just nine unforced errors, 14 fewer than Dimitrov. Sinner outpointed his opponent 55-38.

By the conclusion, Sinner had beaten Dimitrov for his second ATP Masters 1000 title and improved his 2024 season win-loss record to 22-1. The Miami crown represented his third title triumph of the still-young season to go with earlier glories at the Australian Open and Rotterdam. He’s the first Italian to win multiple ATP Masters 1000 crowns.

“I’m really proud obviously about the result,” Sinner said during an on-court interview prior to the trophy ceremony. “I started off struggling a little bit this week. I haven’t had so much time to adapt on this court, so I knew in the beginning that it’s going to be tough. As the tournament went on, I felt better and better. Today’s performance was really, really good. I’m just proud how I handled the situation. It was not easy, so it was a very, very good two weeks.”

Dimitrov gave props to Sinner in his post-match news conference. “Clearly it’s Jannik’s week. He’s been playing amazing tennis,” he said. “It’s really impressive how he’s been able to keep that way of playing.”

En route to winning his 13th tour-level title, Sinner strung together wins over fellow Italian Andrea Vavassori, No. 25 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, Christopher O’Connell of Australia, Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic, No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Dimitrov. Griekspoor was the only one to take a set off Sinner.

Come Monday, Sinner, who has won 25 of his last 26 matches dating back to last year in a run that included winning the 2023 Davis Cup title with Team Italy, will rise to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He exchanges places with Alcaraz, who drops to third. Sinner becomes the first Italian in the Open Era to reach World No. 2. As for Dimitrov, he will move up to No. 9, marking his return to the atop 10 for the first time since November 2018.

“Staying in the present moment. What it has been, it has been. I just try to improve,” Sinner said in his on-court interview, explaining his on-going success. “And also enjoying the moment. This is a special moment. 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 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.”

Around the Miami Open

All-American pair Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who began as first alternates, won their second WTA doubles title of the season Sunday afternoon by capturing the Miami Open crown. Kenin and Mattek-Sands rallied to defeat No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9, in two hours.

Kenin and Mattek-Sands improved to 7-1 this season, which includes a title at Abu Dhabi in February. They are are one of two teams that have won multiple titles in 2024, along with Australian Open and Indian Wells champions Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens.

By the numbers

Grigor Dimitrov is now 41-86 versus Top 10 players (20-53 versus Top 5), including wins earlier in the tournament over No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz (fourth round), No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz (quarterfinals) and No. 5 Alexander Zverev (semifinals). He was aiming to become the first player since Holger Rune at the 2022 Rolex Paris to defeat four Top 10 players in an event outside of the Nitto ATP Finals.

“Quotable …”

“Congrats to Jannik and his team. He’s been exceptional throughout the whole year so far, playing amazing tennis. It’s a pleasure to watch, definitely not to play. Even though it was no match today, it’s been great [for me]. This tournament has always been a difficult one. I was so determined to do well, I almost did too well. I was pleased with my performance. Even though I am not the winner today, I feel like one.”

— Grigor Dimitrov, during the trophy ceremony, in his remarks after finishing runner-up to Jannik Sinner.

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