Sinner’s Sizzling Season Continues With Dimitrov Win

While teenage World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is deservedly commanding the attention of the tennis world, 21-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner is quietly building an impressive season of his own.

In defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4 Sunday night to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau, the former Next Gen ATP Finals champion moved to 18-4 on the season, his fastest start ever to a season.

Beginning with his title run in Montpellier, Sinner has won 14 of his past 16 matches and last week reached the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open before falling to Carlos Alcaraz.

In a match in which both players hit double the number of unforced errors to winners, Sinner’s victory was underpinned by his dominance of the second serve of Dimitrov, who won just seven of 26 points that began with his second delivery.

“It’s the first time I have played in the evening. I can be very happy with my returning game, especially on second serves, when I tried to be very aggressive,” Sinner said. “He’s such a talented and intelligent player, so I am very happy about how I played today.”

Sinner reached the Miami final (l. Hurkacz) on debut in 2021 and last year reached the quarter-finals before retiring after five games against Francisco Cerundolo. He now boasts a 10-2 record in south Florida.

Sinner, who has risen to No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, next faces Andrey Rublev, who is at No. 6 in the live rankings.