Jannik Sinner banished the demons of his previous Miami Open failures with a dominant triumph over Grigor Dimitrov to win the men's singles title on Sunday.
The second seed had fallen to excruciating defeats in the 2021 and 2023 finals, but the third time was the charm in Florida, as he crushed Bulgaria's Dimitrov 6-3 6-1 in just 73 minutes.
As well as clinching Masters crown number two following his maiden ATP 1000 success at last year's Canadian Open, Sinner's triumph also saw him break into the top two of the ATP Rankings, bumping Carlos Alcaraz down to third spot.
"I'm really proud obviously about the result. 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," Sinner told the media after his emphatic success.
"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.
"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 [season] 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."
Sinner? Sorry, I think you mean Winner... 😌@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/tV8NNikfHw
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 31, 2024
Sinner makes more Italian history in Miami
Owing to his phenomenal triumph over defending champion Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of last year's final, Sinner entered Sunday's showpiece as the firm favourite to take home the title, although the experienced Dimitrov had conquered some revered foes to make it that far.
Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Hubert Hurkacz had all fallen to the racquet of the Bulgarian, who also had just one Masters triumph on his CV heading into the final, where he would bid to exorcise agonising memories of losing in Paris to Novak Djokovic last year.
However, Sinner entered the contest on a two-match winning streak against Dimitrov and did not take long to assert his dominance on Sunday, breaking in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead after his Bulgarian foe squandered a chance for the opening break in the fourth.
After letting two chances for a double break in the seventh game slip from his grasp, the big-hitting Sinner took the opener in unbelievable style; a powerful Dimitrov forehand would seemingly save the set point, but the second seed replied with an astounding backhand winner down the line as the Bulgarian approached the net.
Despite opening the second set with a comfortable love hold, Dimitrov was subsequently powerless to quell Sinner, who needed just two openings for a double break and closed out an excellent victory in style with another backhand winner on his first match point.
Having already smashed several Italian tennis records at the tender age of 22, Sinner has now become the first player from his nation - male or female - to become Miami Open champion, and the Australian Open holder has also won each of his three finals in the 2024 season so far.
Ben Knapton
