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.
Post-match chat with Queen @SerenaWilliams ❤️@GrigorDimitrov | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/q1r5kr79Li
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 30, 2024
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."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jannik Sinner beats Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets to win Miami Open