Italy’s rising star, Jannik Sinner, clinched the ATP Miami Open Masters 1000 title on Sunday with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 victory over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in an exciting remaining at Hard Rock Stadium.
This triumph marks Sinner’s third title of the season and propels him to a career-high second place within the ATP world rankings, surpassing Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner’s efficiency was nothing wanting sensational, displaying an ice-cool demeanor, minimizing errors and putting winners with unwavering confidence. His mastery on the court docket suggests {that a} future battle for the highest spot alongside Alcaraz awaits, as soon as Novak Djokovic relinquishes his reign.
Ending the exhausting court docket season on a excessive, Sinner has now gained a formidable 25 of his final 26 matches, together with his solely defeat coming in opposition to Alcaraz within the semifinal of Indian Wells.
Adding the Miami title to his already spectacular assortment, which incorporates victories on the Australian Open and the Rotterdam Indoors earlier this yr, Sinner’s dominance was evident as he wrapped up the ultimate in simply 72 minutes.
He took management early on, breaking Dimitrov within the fifth sport of the primary set and going through just one break level all through your complete match.
“As this tournament went on, I felt better and better. Today’s performance was really good. I’m just proud of how I handled the situation,” Sinner stated.
“I started the season really, really well. I never thought I would start like this. Being number two is an amazing feeling.”
Sinner clinched the primary set together with his second break, a superb backhand down the road that introduced spectators to their toes.
Dimitrov, together with his trademark one-handed backhand strokes and willingness to go to the online, loved loads of assist from the house crowd, however Sinner’s calm method and pristine method proved an excessive amount of for him.
The Italian broke within the second set to go 3-1 up, and together with his serve robust and returns rock strong, it was a procession to victory from that time.
Sinner’s Australian co-coach, Darren Cahill, whose previous pupils embrace Andre Agassi and Simona Halep, was massively impressed with the best way his participant approached the match.
“I thought he was incredible today, barely any unforced errors, kept a great depth and kept it difficult for Grigor to win points. If Grigor did win points, he did so with spectacular tennis,” Cahill stated.
“He made Grigor force a lot and take a lot of risks, and when he’s doing that, I know Jannik is playing the right way. Tactically, I thought he was great today.”
Dimitrov had little doubt he had misplaced to a person in supreme kind.
“I think at the moment clearly Jannik is playing outstanding tennis. There is nothing to say to that. You see how focused he is, how determined he is, the way he’s hitting his shots, there is zero doubt,” stated Dimitrov.
“Can he play any higher? I do not know. He’s the one to indicate that. But for the time being he has been capable of actually put so many matches again to again with the identical stage, so all credit score goes to him.
“And he’s the best player right now in the world.”
The Italian’s title got here in his third look in a Miami remaining – he misplaced to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in 2021 and Daniil Medvedev final yr.
Sinner’s earlier Masters 1000 title got here in Toronto in 2023.
Dimitrov will return to the highest 10 in Monday’s rankings for the primary time since October 2018.
The 32-year-old’s run to the Miami remaining included a quarter-final win over Alcaraz and a semi-final victory over world quantity 5 Alexander Zverev.
“I just want to focus on the positives this week,” he stated. “I used to be extraordinarily decided all through the entire week.
“Clearly it is Jannik’s week. He has been taking part in wonderful tennis. It’s actually spectacular how he is been capable of preserve that method of taking part in.
“I don’t think I have much time to be down on myself. I just want to embrace this moment as well. Just as you win, you need to be able to handle (losing) matches like that, I think, even better than winning those type of matches.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
