{"id":563569,"date":"2026-03-27T04:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563569\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:19:08","slug":"sinner-continues-smooth-miami-progress-with-win-over-tiafoe-as-rivals-fall-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563569\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinner continues smooth Miami progress with win over Tiafoe as rivals fall | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past nine days at the Miami Open have not been kind to most of the world\u2019s best male tennis players. One by one, so many have fallen, most dumped out with mediocre performances. Even \u00adCarlos Alcaraz, the world No\u00a01, was not immune to the string of \u00adgiantkillings<\/a> in Florida.<\/p>\n

One man remains completely unbothered. Having broken Novak Djokovic\u2019s 2016 record for most \u00adconsecutive sets won at Masters 1000 events earlier in the \u00adtournament, \u00adJannik Sinner has continued to \u00adbulldoze through the draw as he tries to follow up his recent Indian Wells title<\/a> by winning the Sunshine Double. He rolled into the semi-finals of the Miami Open with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over the 19th seed, Frances Tiafoe.<\/p>\n

It was a 10th consecutive victory for Sinner, who has bounced back brilliantly after an underwhelming start to his season. He has lost serve only once in the tournament, a set in which he demonstrated mental toughness by recovering from 2-5 down in the second set tie-break of a bruising fourth-round match against Alex Michelsen of the US. Sinner has now won 30 consecutive sets at \u00adMasters 1000 events, extending his record.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, things have been incredibly smooth for the Italian, whose performances this month have already allowed the world No\u00a02 to close the gap on Alcaraz as he attempts to regain the ATP No\u00a01 ranking. He was dominant against Tiafoe, serving extremely well, \u00adcompletely overpowering the American from the baseline and \u00adsignificantly narrowing the court with his defensive prowess. He sealed a straightforward victory by effortlessly holding serve to love with an ace down the T.<\/p>\n

The ease and lightness \u00adSinner is competing with reflects his \u00adcurrent circumstances. A year ago, the \u00adItalian was in the middle of his three-month doping suspension. He is \u00adaccustomed to the feeling of defending huge amounts of ranking points wherever he goes, but one year later the pressure is off. He has something of a free hit at these \u00adtournaments, with no points to defend and everything to gain. \u201cI have zero [points to defend]. \u00adWhatever comes in, it\u2019s positive. Even if you lose next round, \u00adnothing \u00adhappens. So that\u2019s good for me,\u201d he\u00a0said, smiling.<\/p>\n

Arthur Fils of France celebrates an epic win against Tommy Paul of the United States Photograph: Mauricio Paiz\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

With either Alexander Zverev, the third seed, or the 18th seed, \u00adFrancisco Cer\u00fandolo next for \u00adSinner, he remains the heavy favourite to win his second Miami Open title. \u00adWhoever they face in the final will also have to navigate the biggest match of their career.\u00ad \u00adOn Thursday, the Hard Rock Stadium witnessed one of the best matches of the \u00adseason as the 28th-seeded \u00adFrenchman, Arthur Fils, found a way back from the abyss against Tommy Paul, the 22nd seed, recovering from four match points down to reach a Masters 1000 semi-final for the first time. He faces the 21st seed, Jiri Lehecka,\u00a0on Friday.<\/p>\n

At only 21 years old, Fils has long been considered one of the most \u00adtalented players of his generation but a stress fracture in his back forced him off the tour for eight months from June. He returned last month \u00adhaving made significant technical and \u00adlifestyle changes, and he has shown why he is such a \u00adtalent by playing at such a high level only one month into his return.<\/p>\n

Fils first held a match point on Paul\u2019s serve at 6-5 in set three, but the third set tie-break seemed to be out of reach as a brilliant Paul \u00adestablished a 6-2 lead. Through a combination of fearless ball striking, supreme defence and grit, Fils somehow found a path to victory. He said: \u201cI just said: \u2018OK, look, point by point. If I\u2019m lucky, I\u2019ll get through it. Otherwise, it\u2019s OK, it\u2019s not a big deal.\u2019 He was playing better than me. I just have to fight until the end and see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past nine days at the Miami Open have not been kind to most of the world\u2019s best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-563569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}