Sinner has also become the first player ever—male or female—to complete the Sunshine Double without even dropping a set.
The Italian swept all 24 sets he played en route to winning Indian Wells and Miami this month, and only one player—Joao Fonseca—got to set point against him. The Brazilian teenager actually held triple set point up 6-3 in the first set tie-break of their fourth-round match at Indian Wells, but Sinner eventually won, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).
None of the seven previous men to capture the Indian Wells and Miami titles in the same year did it without losing a set, and none of the five women to achieve the feat—Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996, Kim Clijsters in 2005, Victoria Azarenka in 2016, Iga Swiatek in 2022 and Aryna Sabalenka this year—did it without losing a set either.
Before Sinner, the fewest sets any player dropped en route to completing the Sunshine Double was one—achieved twice by Steffi Graf in 1994 (beating Natasha Zvereva in the Miami final, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2) and 1996 (beating Lindsay Davenport in the Indian Wells semifinals, 6-7(6), 7-6 (3), 6-4) and Novak Djokovic once in 2016 (beating Bjorn Fratangelo—now the husband and coach of Madison Keys—in his opening match in Indian Wells that year, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2).
More to come…
