MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Another Sunday on hard court. Another ATP Tour title for Jannik Sinner.

The 24-year-old Italian won the Miami Open on Sunday with a resounding 6-4, 6-4 win over Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic that was barely in doubt after the first few minutes.

After five consecutive massive serves to consolidate an early lead, the only question that remained was whether Sinner would sustain the ridiculous level of quality he has displayed all month through the intermittent rain delays at Hard Rock Stadium.

As it turns out, not even Mother Nature is a match for Sinner these days.

He won at Indian Wells two weeks ago in a day when temperatures nearly hit triple digits in the Coachella Valley, which can often be kryptonite for Sinner. He won in Miami Sunday after rain delayed the start of the match by an hour and a half and interrupted it just after the start of the second set.

That made him the first man to complete the Sunshine Double — winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year — since Roger Federer did it in 2017. Federer did it three times during his career. Novak Djokovic did it four.

“Physically it’s tough, because when you go far in Indian Wells, you come here a little bit tired,” Sinner said of pulling off the undefeated month in the U.S. “But the motivation is very high because you come from a very high confidence boost.”

Jannik has Double Vision 🏆🌴🏆@janniksin goes from coast to coast as he seals his second Miami title and the Sunshine Double! @MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/F1dFqTMRsN

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 29, 2026

Sinner has a ways to go to match them, but he is widely considered the best hard court player in the world, even if Carlos Alcaraz has won the last two hard court Grand Slams. He made the finals of Miami in his first try in 2021, did it again two years later, and has won it the last two times he has played on the fast, slick surface where his power game thrives.

Given all that, Lehecka was a long shot Sunday afternoon, despite his recent form. He hadn’t lost his serve in five matches in Miami this year. Sinner broke him in his second try, using his high, hard topspin to force Lehecka to swing at forehands up around eye-level that he struggled to control.

So many have.

“These matches show people like me there is still big, big room for improvement,” Lehecka said after it was over.

Sinner hasn’t lost a set in a Masters 1,000 tournament, the level just below a Grand Slam, since early October.

After getting that initial break of serve in the third game and mostly cruising through the rest of the set, there was very little chance that he was going to lose two in a row to Lehecka, a terrific talent playing the best tennis of his young career, but also a world No. 22 making his first appearance in a Masters 1,000 final.

“Finals are different,” Sinner had said ominously after defeating Alexander Zverev in the semis to set up the duel with Lehecka. “When the stakes are getting bigger, there is a little bit more tension, which is normal, but I like to put myself in these situations.”

He should, especially when Alcaraz isn’t on the other side of the net. Since the start of 2025, Sinner is 2-4 against Alcaraz but 75-4 against everyone else.

This win sets the stage for a battle for the No. 1 ranking between Sinner and Alcaraz during the clay court season. In early February, Alcaraz had a lead of more than 3,000 points over Sinner, who held the top spot in the rankings from February of 2024 until last September, when Alcaraz overtook him.

But with losses in the semifinals of Indian Wells and the third round of Miami, Alcaraz barely picked up any points. Sinner didn’t play the Sunshine Double or any other tournament from February until early May last year while he served a three-month suspension for having trace amounts of a banned substance in his body that he claimed got there unintentionally. Antidoping officials accepted that explanation and lowered the usual suspension for such an offense by nine months.

That has given Sinner a golden opportunity to make up ground on Alcaraz during the late winter and early spring this year, ahead of the Italian Open. He has shrunk Alcaraz’s lead to just under 1,200 points.

Sinner averaged nearly 130 mph on his first serve and kept his first serve percentage in the mid-60s, even as he aimed for lines and the corners. He didn’t lose a point on his first serve the entire first set.

There may not be any players who can overcome numbers like that. Lehecka couldn’t Sunday, and Sinner had his first Sunshine Double, and his sights trained on Alcaraz.

Lehecka fought gamely in the second set, digging himself out of deep trouble twice in his early serve games. But at 4-4, Sinner maneuvered Lehecka around the baseline until he hit a forehand long, putting the finish line in sight.  With one more service game to go, there was no way he wasn’t going to get there.

“I’m very happy about these couple of tournaments,” Sinner said. “Now a new chapter starts with the clay again. Let’s see how it goes.”