INDIAN WELLS
Sinner, Rublev among singles stars heading to doubles court at Indian Wells
De Minaur/Popyrin start against third seeds Ram/Salisbury
March 05, 2024
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Lorenzo Sonego (left) and Jannik Sinner defeated Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in the Davis Cup 2023 finals.
By ATP staff
Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev lead a string of top 20 singles stars who have sung to play doubles at the BNP Paribas Open… and will meet in the first round. Sinner, who begins the tournament at a career-high No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, will be partnered with Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in an opening clash with Rublev and Karen Khachanov.
Sinner played two tour-level events with Sonego last year, joining forces in Adelaide and Indian Wells. They also teamed up in the Davis Cup finals, where they eliminated Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in the semifinals en route to Italy’s first Davis Cup title since 1976.
Khachanov and Rublev have teamed up eight times in 2023, with one title run coming in Madrid and a semi-final appearance in Beijing.
See the doubles draw
The winning team will then meet hosts Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton or fifth-placers Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. Top of the draw and placed in the same quarter, top seed and defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will start with Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
Among the other singles players doing double duty this fortnight, American No. 1 Taylor Fritz partners with Jiri Lehecka. Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Neal Skupski clash with Francisco Cerundolo and Cameron Norrie in the first round.
Australians Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin meet third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the first round, with the winner facing either Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda or Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer.
In the bottom quarter, Grigor Dimitrov and Daniel Evans meet Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev. Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek open against Tallon Griekspoor and Hubert Hurkacz.
American Steve Johnson will retire this fortnight alongside Tommy Paul. The wild card duo starts against Wesley Kuhlhoff and Nikola Mektic.