Jannik Sinner beats Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets to win Miami Open
No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy continued his torrid start to 2024 bydefeating Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday to win theMiami Open title in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Sinner captured his second career ATP Masters 1000 crown — his first came atthe Canadian Open last year — by finishing off Dimitrov in a mere 73 minutes.Sinner reached the final in Miami in both 2021 and 2023 but could not breakthrough until Sunday.
Now, Sinner will rise to No. 2 in the ATP rankings, a career high for him.It’s the latest in a string of firsts for the 22-year-old star, who helpedItaly win the Davis Cup last winter.
“I’m really proud obviously about the result,” said Sinner, who is 22-1 in allcompetitive matches this year. “I started off struggling a little bit thisweek. I haven’t had so much time to adapt on this court, so I knew in thebeginning that it’s going to be tough. As the tournament went on, I feltbetter and better. Today’s performance was really, really good. I’m just proudhow I handled the situation. It was not easy, so it was a very, very good twoweeks.”
Sinner saved the only break point he faced while converting four of eightbreak-point opportunities against Dimitrov. Sinner won a whopping 21 of his 24first-service points (87.5 percent) and 12 of 19 on his second serve (63.2percent).
Sinner trailed 2-1 in the first set as each player held serve until Sinnerbroke Dimitrov in the fifth game. In the second set, Sinner won five straightgames to polish off his opponent.
While Sinner took down No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the semifinalsin similar fashion, winning 6-1, 6-2, Dimitrov had a challenging path to thefinals. He upset No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-2, 6-4 in thequarterfinals, and he followed that up with a three-set win over fourth seedAlexander Zverev of Germany in Saturday’s semis.
Sunday marked Dimitrov’s third appearance in a Masters 1000 final.
“Even though I’m not the winner today, I feel like one,” Dimitrov said. “Youguys (the fans) have really embraced me a lot this year.”
