Sinner adds Miami to Indian Wells, with no sets dropped along the way

Jannik Sinner has claimed the Sunshine Double, winning both ATP 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami. It is only the eighth time that feat has been achieved, and the last man to do it was Roger Federer in 2017. Sinner, though, added a small twist of his own: he is the first player to complete the double without losing a single set. Apparently dominance was not enough, so he made it look tidy as well.

The Italian’s victory in Miami came against Czech player Jiri Lehecka, currently ranked No. 22 in the world. The final was never seriously in doubt. Sinner was sharp on serve, firing 10 aces, steady from the baseline, and predictably calm when the pressure rose. On the other side of the court, Lehecka tried to disrupt the script by going after every ball, but the gap between the two players was obvious from the start.

Sinner’s coaches, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, watched from courtside as their player delivered another routine-looking piece of high-level work. For anyone still looking for a flaw, the clearest one was his return on break points: he converted just 2 of 11 chances.

Even so, the numbers tell a fairly blunt story. Sinner won 72 points to Lehecka’s 60, and his service games were usually clean and uncomplicated, while the Czech had to work much harder simply to keep hold of his own serve. The final score was 6-4, 6-4 after 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Rain, a delay, and the same result

The match at Hard Rock Stadium was interrupted for more than an hour because of rain, because of course the weather wanted a say in a final. Even that did not derail Sinner’s control of the match.

Afterwards, Sinner said:

“Finals are always difficult. I tried to stay solid, the court was difficult because of the rain. It’s incredible to have achieved this swing in North America and incredible to have set this record. I’m very happy, and now I’m glad to go home.”

With the North American hard-court swing behind him, Sinner now turns toward the clay season, which starts shortly. On current form, the rest of the tour has a problem to solve.