Sinner "Double-Defeats" Zverev, Faces Lehecka in Final for "Sunshine Double" Crown

On March 27, 2026, the ATP 1000 Miami Masters concluded its men's singles semifinals. Second seed Sinner defeated Zverev "back-to-back," while 21st seed Lehecka swept past Fies in straight sets, setting up a championship clash two days later.

Second seed Sinner and third seed Zverev, having met in the semifinals at the previous Indian Wells event, once again faced each other across the net in the semifinals. Although this match was more intense in terms of play, the Italian ultimately secured victory with scores of 6-3/7-6(4), extending his winning streak against Zverev to seven matches and reaching his fourth final at this tournament. He is now just one win away from achieving the "Sunshine Double"!

Zverev started the first two return games of the opening set with a 30-0 lead, but he failed to convert these opportunities into game advantages. Instead, Sinner, who gradually found his rhythm, held and broke serve consecutively to take the first set 6-3. In the second set, both players saved break points in the first twelve games. Entering the tiebreak, Sinner relied on more consistent play to win 7-6(4). Throughout the match, Zverev hit 21 winners and committed 14 unforced errors. His second-serve winning percentage also showed clear improvement compared to their last encounter. However, against the formidable Sinner, this still wasn't enough to secure a win.

"Today's match was very tough. He played incredibly good tennis, and I performed exceptionally well on serve, especially during the crucial points at the end," Sinner said post-match. "My main goal coming here was to try to play great tennis. Now, reaching the final again means a lot to me. I will prepare fully for the next match, but regardless, this phase of the tournament journey has already been perfect."

Sinner's opponent in the final will be Czech 21st seed Lehecka, who delivered an outstanding semifinal performance, needing only 75 minutes to defeat Fies 6-2/6-2, setting a new personal best career result at an ATP 1000 Masters event. In this tournament, Lehecka defeated Kwame and Quinn in his first two matches. In the fourth round, he battled through three sets to upset home favorite and sixth seed Fritz. After consecutive victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals against dark horse Landarous and French contender Fies, he emerged victorious from the highly competitive top half of the draw.

It is noteworthy that across his five matches en route to the final, Lehecka has not faced a single break of serve. The last player to achieve this was Novak Djokovic when he won the 2018 Shanghai Rolex Masters.

"It feels amazing. This is undoubtedly the goal I've been striving for throughout the year and during the offseason. I've always believed in my playing style and in the effort I've put in. When the breakthrough happens isn't important, but I knew the form would come, and today was a perfect demonstration of my ideal game. I executed well, so I'm very satisfied with today's performance," Lehecka said after the match.

The women's doubles semifinals also concluded on that day. Second seeds Siniakova/Townsend reversed the match against third seeds Dabrowski/Stefani with scores of 4-6/6-4/10-3 to advance to the final first. Meanwhile, during the match between fourth seeds Zhang/Mertens and top seeds Errani/Paolini, with the score at 1-2 in the first set, Mertens withdrew due to injury, sending their opponents into the final.

Schedule for March 29

On March 29, the women's singles final and men's doubles final will commence first. The men's doubles final between Heliövaara/Patten and Bolelli/Vavassori will start at 0:30 Beijing Time. The women's singles final between Sabalenka and Gauff will officially begin at 3:00 Beijing Time.

（Text, Editor: Dato）