Jannik Sinner’s perfect run at the Miami Open continued as he defeated Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
In an extremely high-quality match, Sinner came through against Zverev with a scoreline of 6-3 7-6 for his seventh victory in a row against the German.
Sinner’s level has been near-unbeatable in Miami, and he plays Jiri Lehecka in the final for a chance of securing the Sunshine Double.
After beating Zverev in straight sets, the world number two gave his opponent a few words of encouragement at the net.
Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev share words at the net
Zverev and Sinner have played each other 12 times on the ATP Tour, with the Italian winning eight of those matches.
Sinner has dominated Zverev since 2023 and it’s clearly getting to the German following his Miami Open defeat.
Do you really believe that Alexander Zverev can win a Grand Slam title?
After their handshake at the net, Sinner spoke to Zverev in German to send him words of encouragement by saying: “You played well.”
Zverev, demoralised from yet another loss to the world number two, simply replied: “[It] still wasn’t enough.”
It’s understandable that Zverev is downbeat about his loss to Sinner, as he also lost to the Italian at Indian Wells.
Alexander Zverev is clearly making progress in 2026
Zverev might be disheartened after losing to Sinner, but he has clearly made an improvement so far this season.
The German holds an impressive 15-5 record from his first five tournaments so far this year, and he is definitely the best current player outside of Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner.
Alexander Zverev is the greatest player to never win a Grand Slam title – who else is in the conversation?
His serve has been markedly improved and he arguably deserved to take the second set from Sinner in Miami.
He was also very close to knocking Alcaraz out of the Australian Open earlier this year, so the gap is getting closer with every tournament.
Zverev deserves credit for closing the gap on Sinner and Alcaraz so far this year and if his improvements continue that long-awaited win will not be far away.
