MIAMI – Jannik Sinner won the Miami Open and continues to prove he is the best player of this era on hard courts. The Italian keeps adding records: he completed the Sunshine Double and became the first player in history to do so without dropping a set.
“It’s very meaningful to go home with two trophies before the clay season. I never thought I would achieve the Sunshine Double, something so difficult to accomplish. I’m very happy,” Sinner said after the match.
In the final, the Italian dominated Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-4. Rain played a leading role, delaying the match and then interrupting it shortly after the start of the second set.
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The world No. 2 had already made history in California. Two weeks earlier, Sinner became the youngest male player to complete the full set of major hard-court titles: he has won at least once every Grand Slam and Masters 1000 on hard courts, as well as the ATP Finals.
By winning Indian Wells and Miami the same season, Sinner joined a list that, with him, includes only eight players in the history of men’s tennis.
At 20, Jim Courier was the first to achieve it in 1991. His successful run through California and Miami that year defined his career, before winning his first Grand Slam a couple of months later at Roland Garros. His compatriot Michael Chang won in California and Florida the following year.
Pete Sampras did it in 1994 against Andre Agassi in Key Biscayne: Agassi agreed to delay the final by 24 hours because Sampras was suffering from a stomach virus. “If I can’t beat Pete when he’s healthy, I don’t deserve to win the tournament,” Agassi told The New York Times.
Marcelo Ríos achieved it in 1998: the Chilean started Indian Wells as world No. 10 and climbed to the top of the rankings after defeating Agassi in Key Biscayne. With the Sunshine Double, he became the first Ibero-American world No. 1.
After several attempts, Agassi achieved it in 2001. He was the last North American to do so.
Roger Federer (2005, 2006 and 2017) and Novak Djokovic (2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016) are the only players to have won the double more than once.
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In the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka also achieved the Sunshine Double in 2026. On Saturday, she defeated home favourite Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the final.
“It’s definitely very difficult. A Grand Slam lasts two weeks, and winning these tournaments means you have to play at a high level for four weeks, and in two different conditions… it’s very complicated. More difficult than a Grand Slam? It’s simply different, incomparable,” she told CLAY in Miami before the final.
“My goal has always been to put my name in history, and I just did it. It just sounds so unreal. I don’t know how I was able to achieve that, but I’m super proud right now,” said the world No. 1 alongside the Miami Open crystal trophy.
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