What will be stronger in Miami: Jannik Sinner's rise, or Grigor Dimitrov's renaissance?

“It’s a great day, Sundays, for tennis players,” Jannik Sinner says. “If you’re still in the tournament, it means it’s the best day.”

Sundays have been good to Sinner of late. He has won six straight finals, including two this season. The last one he lost, in fact, came 12 months ago in Miami, to Daniil Medvedev. Sinner avenged that defeat with a 6-1, 6-2 rout of the Russian in the semifinals on Friday. Can anything stop him from his third title, and first at a Masters 1000, of 2024? If that’s not motivation enough, a Sinner win will vault him past Carlos Alcaraz to a career-high ranking of No. 2.

Grigor Dimitrov is the last man standing in his way. During a normal week, that might not sound all that scary. Or at least not nearly as scary as having to face the usual Masters-final suspects, like Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic. But this obviously hasn’t been a normal week for Dimitrov. He has made two great escapes, against Alejandro Tabilo and Hubert Hurkacz. He has beaten the top seed, Alcaraz. And he has recorded his first win over Alexander Zverev in 10 years. Dimitrov’s renaissance in his 30s has been gradually gaining over momentum over the past year. Last fall he made a Masters 1000 final in Paris, but was left in tears after a defeat to Djokovic. Now he has another chance to take the last step.

“With each win you get, it’s inevitable, you get more excited,” Dimitrov says. “The adrenaline kicks in. You want to do better and more. Here we are in the final.”

And how about that final? Does he have adrenaline to get past Sinner, and across the finish line?

Sinner leads Dimitrov 2-1 in their head to head. He has won their last two matches, both of which were on hard courts. He’s coming off one of the best, cleanest, most convincing performances of his career against Medvedev. A two-time finalist in Miami, he likes these courts, which have been sped up in recent years. Knowing that, Medvedev tried to take the rallies to Sinner, but it just fed into the Italian’s superior baseline power.

So where does that leave Dimitrov, as far as tactics go? Sinner isn’t sure what to expect.

“He’s very, very talented physically,” Sinner says of Dimitrov. “He has the talent to change things up on a tennis court, because of the way he plays. He can stand back, he can go close. He has very, very good hand skills, He can do whatever he wants.”

It’s true, it’s possible to imagine Dimitrov standing back and absorbing Sinner's pace with his one-handed backhand. And it’s possible to imagine him getting to the net as soon as he can, and avoiding long rallies altogether. In the semifinals, when Dimitrov needed to hold at 5-4 in the third, he came forward, and it worked. I think that has to be his goal against Sinner; letting the Italian dictate right now, in his current form, seems like a recipe for defeat.

Let’s hope, like Sinner says, Sunday is a great day for tennis players and fans alike.

Winner: Sinner