By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
It’s not just that Jannik Sinner became only the eighth man to win the “Sunshine Double” with his win at the Miami Open.
It’s that he won two of the biggest titles in tennis consecutively without losing a set.
Sinner ended a dominant month of March with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Jiri Lehecka to win the Miami Open, two weeks to the day after winning the BNP Parisbas Open in Indian Wells, joining an elite group of seven other men players to turn the trick of winning the two first quarter North American hard court Masters 1000-level championships.
The Sunshine Double has long been viewed as a benchmark of dominance, requiring not only peak performance but sustained excellence over two grueling weeks. The Italian world No. 2 joins Jim Courier (1991). Michael Chang (1992), Pete Sampras (1994), Marcelo Rios (1998), Andre Agassi (2001), Roger Federer (2005, 2006, 2017), Novak Djokovic (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016) as men to win the Sunshine Double.
In his post-match press conference following the win, Sinner was asked to compare the difficulty of winning the Sunshine Double versus a major singles title Said Sinner, “It’s tough to say and tough to compare. I don’t want the truth. You know, both are very difficult but Grand Slams are always a bit different, I feel like. Best-of-five and throughout two full weeks, things can change throughout one night. You know, maybe you wake up not feeling well, and you know, the body maybe might not feel a little bit more. But also, here, you know, physically it’s tough, because when you go far in Indian Wells, you come here a little bit tired. But the motivation is very high, because you come from a very confidence boost, also. But, yeah, I don’t want to compare.”
Sinner’s main rival, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who was fresh off winning the Australian Open in January to complete a career Grand Slam sweep of all four majors in a career, did not advance far enough in both events to face Sinner. He lost in the semifinals of Indian Wells, his first loss of the 2026 season, and then fell in the third round in Miami to American Sebi Korda.
From the opening games of the final, Sinner looked locked in. His serve was his biggest weapon, hitting 10 aces, winning 92 percent of first set points and getting 68 percent of his first serves in. Even more impressively, he did not drop a match across both tournaments, showcasing a level of consistency that signals a player entering his prime — and perhaps beginning a new standard – and to catch up on Alcaraz, who has won the last two major singles titles in Australia and at the U.S. Open.
Despite the loss, this tournament marked a significant milestone for Lehecka. Reaching his first Masters 1000 final, the young Czech proved he belongs on the sport’s biggest stages. His powerful game and fearless approach earned him wins over top-tier opponents throughout the fortnight. Though he fell short in the final, his performance in Miami suggests that his breakthrough is only just beginning.
