Sinner sees off Lehecka to complete Sunshine Double without dropping a set
Jiri Lehecka entered his first Masters 1000 final at the Miami Open in the best serving form of his life.He had won every service game in the tournament, a feat achieved by just eight men at this level before him.The ease with which he brushed aside all nine break points against him reflected his confidence.It took two return games for Jannik Sinner to viciously drag the Czech back down to earth.Ten minutes in, Sinner had already broken Lehecka’s unbreakable serve.
As has usually been the case over the past few years, Sinner burst into the lead and refused to let it go.In a match repeatedly delayed by irritating rain, it took Sinner some time to reach his intended destination, but the Italian eventually secured one of the greatest achievements of his increasingly legendary career, defeating the 21st seed 6-4, 6-4 to win the Miami Open title.This is a historic victory.Sinner is just the eighth male player to win Indian Wells and Miami, also known as the Sunshine Double.Sinner, the world No 2, has now won 34 consecutive sets at Masters level, dating back to his triumph in Paris in November.
He is just the third man behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to win three consecutive Masters events and the first to do so without dropping a set in each of those three triumphs.A day after Aryna Sabalenka, the women’s No 1, followed up her own Indian Wells title by winning in Miami, this is also the fourth time in history that a male and female player have completed the Sunshine Double in the same year.The past few weeks have been the greatest of Lehecka’s career.His ability to strike the ball with such devastating pace and clean timing has been evident for years, but it was not until Miami that things began to come together.He reached the final with a win over the sixth seed, Taylor Fritz, and an imperious dismantling of Arthur Fils in the semi-final.
However, no matter how well his opponents may be playing, Sinner represents such an enormous step up in quality compared to the rest of the field.Lehecka already learned this the hard way.In their most recent meeting, a third-round match at the French Open last year, Sinner humiliated the Czech, leading 6-0, 5-0 before winning 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.This was a better showing from Lehecka.After dropping serve early, he found his rhythm behind his enormous serve and forehand, limiting Sinner’s opportunities until deep in set two.
He generated one half-chance of his own while leading 4-3, 0-30 on Sinner’s serve in set two,However, in addition to his nuclear-grade groundstrokes, his movement, return of serve and innate toughness, Sinner is in some of the best serving form of his life,Every time the Czech generated a half chance, Sinner’s serve instantly shut it down,Sinner’s dominant March feels even more noteworthy considering how he started the year,His five-set Australian Open semi-final loss to Djokovic, was far from ideal and he followed it up with one of his poorest performances of the last few years, losing in three sets to Jakub Menšík.
But Sinner is not a robot, despite how some of his opponents describe him, and the season is long.It comes as no surprise at all that he has quickly found his rhythm.With this result, the race for the ATP No 1 is on.Sinner received a three-month doping suspension last year, meaning he has had zero points to defend in February, March and April.These excellent recent performances place him around 1500 points behind Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz and Sinner have continued their duopoly at the beginning of the season: the world No 1 winning in Australia and Qatar, and Sinner taking the Indian Wells and Miami Open titles.However, perhaps the biggest upset of the year is three months into the new season they still have not faced each other.
Ready to order? 10 rules for UK’s restaurant diners
Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you, our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff.Turn up … Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God)
Is foraging really feasible to feed myself?
When I called Robin Greenfield, an environmental activist and author, his assistant answered. “We’re stopped really quick,” Marielle said, adding “he is harvesting a ton of wild onions right now. He’ll be on in just a minute.”I waited, curious to see his haul and bemused by his willingness to delay an interview for wild vegetables. I had called Greenfield, who wrote Food Freedom about the year he grew and foraged 100% of his food, to talk about how possible, or hard, it is to do just that
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for lemon lamington cake | The sweet spot
I think lamingtons should be much more popular than they are on this side of the world. One of my go-to coffee shops is Aussie-run and they always have a proud display of chunky, jam-filled, chocolate- and coconut-coated lamingtons. Making them isn’t complicated, just a little messy with all the filling and dipping of multiple cubes of cake in different bowls. In an attempt to streamline the process, and because giant versions of anything are always fun, I’ve made one extra-large lamington. It’s a wonderfully soft sponge, covered in lemon curd ganache and filled with plenty of cream, making for a very pretty Easter centrepiece
Aperitivo or dinner? Portuguese whites are always right
Portuguese wines have been making steady advances on British drinkers in recent years, and for good reason. The country is home to many delightful indigenous grapes (bom dia baga, encantado encruzado), as well as the sort of varied maritime, mountainous terrain that encourages personality. Its winemakers tend to be forward-thinking and climate-conscious, too, and there are lots of bottles of interest at the “midweek” price point – that is, £8-£13. Case in point: the “yellow tram wine”, AKA Porta 6 Lisboa, is now a ubiquitous presence on our high streets.The Guardian’s journalism is independent
From basil to pistachio and peas – in praise of pesto, whichever way you make it
It was not without satisfaction that I found my 14-year-old son making pesto the other week – for the first 13 years of his life he referred to it as either “pesto-the-bogey-man”, or “gross”. To avoid interfering and sabotaging the moment, I didn’t look too closely, so I didn’t clock the shallow bowl and immersion blender combination. I did hear the noise – a blunt churn – as the blade hit the leaves and nuts. Acting more like a leaf blower than cutter, it sent green and white oily fragments up the cupboards and over pretty much every pot, utensil and tool nearby. Impressively unfazed, he managed to scrape a good proportion of the elements into the food processor and make an extremely tasty pesto, which was mixed with linguine, green beans and potatoes
Anything but eggs – the best chocolate for Easter
If you like chocolate and nut butter, Radek’s Chocolate is doing wonderful things with both, and its dairy free Silky Almond Chocolate Rabbit is magically creamy. Looking more like subservient mice than bunnies, NearyNógs’ dark chocolate bunnies, stuffed with salted caramel, were my favourite. A superb, successful marriage of very good Ecuadorian chocolate and caramel: worthy of a royal telegram.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link
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