Jannik Sinner dominated Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-1 on Sunday (March 31) to win the Miami Open for the first time and rise to world number two.
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, who has experienced a career renaissance this season, 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.
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 U.S. Open.
The 22-year-old will take over the world number two ranking from his rival Carlos Alcaraz on Monday and said he knows that he has a target on his back heading into the claycourt season.
