Sinner overcomes rain delays, Lehecka to win Miami Open, Sunshine Double
Jannik Sinner had to wait out three hours-worth of rain delays and stave off the upstart Jiri Lehecka, but he persevered and completed the Sunshine Double with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the Miami Open men’s final Sunday evening.
Sinner, the 2024 Miami Open champion, became the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to complete the Sunshine Double — winning Indian Wells and Miami titles back-to-back — and the first in history to win the double without losing a set.
The match started 90 minutes late due to rain over Hard Rock Stadium. Sinner won the first set in 46 minutes without dropping a point on his first serve (16 of 16), and they had just started the second set when the rain showers returned, delaying the match another hour and a half.
Once they resumed, Lehecka seemed to be playing stronger, saving a pair of break points in back-to-back service games, but Sinner’s serve was too much to overcome.
“I tried to understand the best way to serve, especially in these conditions,” Sinner said. “[Lehecka] is a very aggressive returner, standing very close, so you have to hit very precise, so I’m very happy with how I handled those situations.”
The Stadium Court crowd, which included Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo and hockey great Jaromir Jagr (a family friend of Lehecka’s), stuck around, sought cover, hit the food vendors, and were back in the building to give world No. 2 Sinner a loud ovation when he hit a forehand winner to seal the match, which lasted 1 hour, 33 minutes.
“Performing again in a very good way after Indian Wells means a lot to me,” Sinner said. “Finals are always very, very different and difficult to play, and the conditions [Sunday] were very different, the ball was very heavy. We both struggled a little bit in the beginning, and it was a bit windy at some points, so it was not easy, but I’m very, very happy.”
Sinner said he listened to music during the rain delay and tried to joke around to ease the tension.
He extended his record streak to 34 consecutive sets won at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, breaking Novak Djokovic’s record by 10.
It was the fourth time in tournament history that the men’s and women’s Miami Open winners (Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka) won the Sunshine Double. The other three times were 1994 (Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras), 2005 (Kim Clijsters, Federer), and 2016 (Victoria Azarenka, Djokovic).
Lehecka, the 22nd-ranked Czech playing the best tennis of his career, hadn’t lost his serve in five matches in Miami this year. Sinner broke him in his second try, in the third game of the match.
“I’m very happy and sad at the same time,” Lehecka said during his on-court interview. “It’s never easy to stand here after a losing a final like that, but if I had to lose to someone, then better it is to Jannik. Incredible job.”
Lehecka said he heads to the clay season with more confidence after his run in Miami, and also with a clear idea of what he needs to do to improve and be able to compete for titles regularly with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. He added that having two players dominating the tour is good for the sport.
“It’s not the first time this is happening, it happened many times before with different names,” he said. “I think it’s great, actually. It’s very good for the sport and and also very good for us, the rest of the tour, because it shows us the limits and that we really need to improve our game to be able to beat them not just once, but on the biggest stages and more than once. I played a very good tournament here and was satisfied with my game, but [Sunday] I saw that there is still somewhere for me to go if I want to be able to beat these guys in finals of masters and Grand Slams.”
Sinner praised Lehecka for overcoming injuries and called him “an amazing person.” He went on to thank the crowd for its support and the court drying crew for getting the court in playing condition after Sunday’s two downpours.
Siniakova-Townsend win women’s doubles title
In the women’s doubles final, the No. 2 seeded team of Katerina Siniakova (CZE) and Taylor Townsend (USA) beat top-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 to complete the Sunshine Double after winning the Indian Wells title two weeks ago.
Sunday’s match, which was interrupted by rain with Siniakova/Townsend leading 6-5 in the first set, was a rematch of the Indian Wells semifinals, where Siniakova/Townsend won 6-2, 6-2.
Siniakova had a 6:45 p.m. flight scheduled, but changed it when the rain rolled in.
“I was so stressed because I had to catch a flight, which I didn’t catch,” Siniakova said, smiling. “I was thinking, `Should I change it? Should I not?’”
Townsend said she relaxed during the rain delay.
“We had nice conversations, had some food, I kicked my feet up because you just don’t know with rain delays,” Townsend said. “It’s really tough to turn it on, off, on again. I took a 15-minute power nap and I felt great.”
Errani and Paolini had been 5-0 as a team in WTA 1000 finals before Sunday.
This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 8:24 PM.