Jannik Sinner dominated Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Miami Open for the first time and rise to world No. 2.
The Italian fired a passing shot howling by his Bulgarian opponent for a crucial break in the first set and captured the opener with a brilliant backhand winner that brought the fans at Hard Rock Stadium to their feet.
The 32-year-old Dimitrov had no answer for Sinner’s flawless game in the second set and was broken again when his backhand landed in the net to fall behind 3-1.
Dimitrov badly missed an overhead to hand Sinner the 5-1 lead and did not even try to chase down Sinner’s backhand winner on championship point.
Sinner won 88 per cent of his first serve points and thumped 15 winners to capture the title in South Florida after finishing as the runner-up in 2021 and 2023.
“I raised my level dramatically for the semis and final, which I’ve shown on the court and obviously the result is amazing,” Sinner said.
“I felt like I was serving really well in the important moments which gives me a lot of confidence.”
Australian Open champion Sinner, who scooped a second Masters 1000 title following his success in Canada last year, has won 25 of his last 26 matches and has only lost three times since last year’s US Open.
The 22-year-old takes over the world No.2 ranking from Carlos Alcaraz on Monday and said he knows that he has a target on his back heading into the claycourt season.
“Hopefully I can improve because the opponents are going to come for me,” he said. “Now, new chapter, the clay is coming. Usually I struggle there a little bit so let’s see what I can achieve this time.
“I never expected it to be like this at the beginning of the year. Now I am just living in the moment.”
Sinner, who hails from the Italy’s San Candido, said it was a great honour to be the highest-ranked Italian in the history of the sport.
“Being No. 2 is an incredible achievement,” he said.
“I come from a very normal family. My dad is still going to work, my mom also, so nobody would have expected this for sure.”
