The men’s doubles tournament at the BPN Paribas Open in Indian Wells features a star-studded 32-team field and many intriguing match-up.
Canadian top-ten star Felix Auger Aliassime will team up with his compatriot Denis Shapovalov. Auger Aliassime, who won four ATP titles in Rotterdam, Florence, Antwerp and Basel last year, reached the round of 16 the quarter final in Rotterdam and the semifinal in Doha in singles in the first three months of the 2023 season.
They partnered to win the 2022 ATP Cup. They will face a blockbuster match-up against Holger Rune and Ben Shelton.
Rune and Shelton are teaming up for the first time one week after meeting on the singles court in Acapulco. Rune beat Shelton 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-2 in the Round of 32 in the Mexican tournament.
Shelton lost to Tommy Paul in the quarter final in the Australian Open last January.
“I think he is a super fun guy. I like the way he plays tennis. I think it will be fun. It’s going to be nice to be one at the net after his big serve”, said Rune.
Rune and Shelton are in the bottom half of the draw in the same quarter as second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who start their campaign against Grigor Dimitrov and Hubert Hurkacz, who lost to Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the Round of 16 in the doubles tournament of the Rome Masters 1000 tournament last May. Dimitrov beat Hurkacz 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5).
The bottom half of the draw also features Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who won the Nitto ATP Finals doubles title beating Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. Ram and Salisbury reached the semifinals in last year’s edition of the Indian Wells tournament.
Defending champions John Isner and Jack Sock will take on third seeds and Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean Julien Rojer. The winners will take on either Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev or Kevin Krawietz and Fabrice Martin in the second round.
This year’s Australian Open doubles champions Ricky Hijikata and Jason Kubler will face Austin Krajicek and Mackenzie McDonald in the first round. Casper Ruud will team up with Dominic Thiem for the first time. The Norwegian and Austrian team will face Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who won Wimbledon and the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, Rome Masters 1000 in 2022 and Auckland last January. The top half will also feature Frances Tiafoe and Stan Wawrinka, Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego, Marcos Giron and JJ Wolf.
