As we enter the back half of the Sunshine Double and soon close out the first quarter of 2024, several doubles teams and storylines have begun to emerge on the WTA and ATP doubles tours. In a year that feels like we’ve had unprecedented turnover among top teams on both tours, the remaining old guard has largely stayed intact while both new and reunited teams have made waves early on.
Similar to its Sunshine Double counterpart at Indian Wells, the Miami Open doubles field is known for attracting a star-studded doubles field of both established doubles teams and standout singles players guaranteed to draw full crowds. Without further ado, here are seven doubles storylines to watch during the Miami Open this year.
Hsieh Su-Wei, Austin Krajicek Reclaim No. 1 Doubles Rankings
Perhaps the biggest doubles story over the last year has been the dominant re-emergence of the newly crowned WTA world No. 1, Hsieh Su-wei. After being sidelined from the tour for over 18 months, Hsieh has won three of the last four women’s doubles majors and one mixed doubles major…with four different partners.
In women’s doubles, she won the 2023 French Open with Xinyu Wang, 2023 Wimbledon with Barbora Strycova, and the 2024 Australian Open with her current partner, Elise Mertens. She also won the Australian Open mixed doubles title alongside last-minute partner Jan Zielinski. Since returning to the tour last spring, Hsieh has posted a 32-11 record including a remarkable 22-1 at the last four grand slam events.
The ATP Tour also features a new No. 1 player this week. After a breakout 2023 season where he became world No. 1 and won his first major, American Austin Krajicek reclaimed the No. 1 spot this week thanks to a surprising first-round loss at Indian Wells from top seeds and defending champions, Rohan Bopanna and Matt Ebden. For his standards, Krajicek and partner Ivan Dodig’s start to 2024 likely hasn’t gone as smoothly as planned.
While they haven’t yet won a title, Dodig and Krajicek have still managed a respectable 10-4 record highlighted by a quarterfinals run at Indian Wells, a semifinal performance in Rotterdam, and a runner-up finish in Dubai. Look for the 2023 Miami Open finalists to come into Florida with form and catch their stride ahead of the clay season.
2024 Doubles Reunion Tours Start Off Strong
Some of 2024’s best doubles teams have shown us the instant impact that can happen when the doubles band gets back together. Speaking of Hsieh, she and partner Elise Mertens have started the year off with guns blazing.
They’re 11-3 on the year with two titles at the biggest events of the season so far, Australian Open and Indian Wells. As the No. 1 team in the WTA doubles race by over 500 points, they have already scored multiple wins over top rival teams like Storm Hunter/Katerina Siniakova and Demi Schuurs/Luisa Stefani. Before Hsieh took time off from tour in 2022, Hsieh and Mertens enjoyed a stellar 2021 season together with titles at Indian Wells and Wimbledon.
On the ATP Tour, Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic’s reunion tour has also begun to raise eyebrows. In what will be Koolhof’s last year on tour in 2024, both players parted ways with their former partners to rekindle their old mojo. During the pandemic, the duo teamed up to win the 2020 ATP Finals and finished runners-up at the 2020 U.S. Open.
So far, it’s safe to say the reunion tour is going as well as (or better than) they planned. Koolhof and Mektic have already won three titles in 2024 at the ATP 250 (Auckland), ATP 500 (Rotterdam), and ATP Masters 1000 (Indian Wells) levels with an 80 percent match win percentage (16-4) on the year.
Trending Doubles Teams to Watch
Apart from No. 1 ranked players and teams leading the pack on their reunion tour, several new and old teams have started the year in convincing form with consistent performances and a balanced spread of titles.
3 WTA Teams to Watch
- Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova: A new 2024 pairing, the No. 2 team in the 2024 WTA Race has posted a 14-3 record on the year and advanced to the semi-finals or better of every event they’ve entered. They won the WTA 1000 event in Dubai, finished runner-up at Indian Wells, and advanced to the semifinal of the Australian Open and San Diego Open. Look for this lefty-right combo to make waves under the Miami sun.
- Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez: After a bumpy start to the year, The American-Aussie pairing caught fire in the Middle East and has won 10 of their last 12 matches including a runner-up performance at the WTA 1000 in Dubai, WTA 500 title in San Diego and semi-finals finish at Indian Wells. They also made the finals of the WTA 500 in Linz. Melichar-Martinez and Perez were 2023 Miami Open semi-finalists and tend to play their best tennis on American hard courts. Listen to our Interview with Nicole & Ellen from Indian Wells.
- Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani: Another new pairing, the crafty serve-and-volley team is easy on the eyes for doubles purists who reminisce about the good ol’ days. Schuurs and Stefani are 10-3 on the year highlighted by a WTA 1000 title in Doha and quarterfinals appearances at the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
3 ATP Teams to Watch
- No. 1 Matt Ebden and Rohan Bopanna: After a stellar debut season together in 2023, the fan-favorite Aussie/Indian team continued turning back time with their first major title together at the 2024 Australian Open. They’ll have little pressure or points to defend this year after a 2023 round one loss in Miami, but a difficult first-round matchup awaits in the AO finalists.
- Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori: Sitting at No. 2 in the ATP 2024 Race, the Italian veterans kicked off the year down under with a surprising run to the Australian Open finals. Since then, they’ve continued their fine form with a title at the ATP 500 event in Buenos Aires and semifinal finishes at the Rio Open and Indian Wells. The catch? They’ll face the top seeds who beat them down under, Ebden and Bopanna, in the first round. Grab the popcorn.
- Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson: Though singles is their top priority, don’t sleep on this unseeded team lurking in the bottom of the Miami Open draw. The laid-back Aussie pairing is 12-2 on the year with two ATP 250 titles in Dallas and Los Cabos. They possess an all-court game with a high upside capable of beating any team in the draw and are only one of two ATP teams to win multiple doubles titles in 2024.
Related Podcast
Matt Ebden Interview: The world No. 2 ATP doubles star discusses the state of doubles and what we can expect to see in the future.
Singles Standouts Enter Miami Doubles Field
In addition to watching the top doubles teams, Miami doubles fans will witness many of our sport’s biggest household names and top singles players participate in doubles action.
The men’s doubles field is stacked with dynamic names and talent who could shake up the draw early on with two top 10 singles players and seven top 20 singles players:
- No. 8 Casper Ruud
- No. 10 Alex de Minaur
- No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas
- No. 14 Tommy Paul
- No. 17 Ben Shelton
- No. 18 Alexander Bublik
- No. 20 Adrian Mannarino
Other big stars in the doubles field include former world No. 1 and three-time major winner Andy Murray, who will play doubles in Miami alongside American Sebastian Korda, and American fan-favorite Frances Tiafoe.
The women’s doubles field, which is typically more common to have more top singles players, is loaded with equally impressive talent and star power with three top 10 players and seven top 20 players:
- No. 3 Coco Gauff
- No. 5 Jessica Pegula
- No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko
- No. 13 Beatriz Haddad-Maia
- No. 14 Jasmine Paolini
- No. 18 Madison Keys
- No. 19 Veronika Kudermetova
Americans Roll Deep in Miami
U.S. tennis fans will have plenty of opportunities to support the red, white, and blue on the doubles court in Miami.
With 13 players in the doubles draw, the American women are headlined by defending champions Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the No. 5 seeds who defeated fellow American Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez in last year’s finals. Towsend will team up with Brazilian and fellow lefty, Beatriz Haddad-Maia, as the No. 6 seeded team. Nicole Melichar-Martinez enters Miami as the top-ranked American in doubles (currently No. 7), where she and partner Ellen Perez are the fourth seeds.
Other American women in the doubles draw include:
- Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk: Dangerous unseeded team who were finalists at the WTA 1000 in Doha earlier this year.
- Bernarda Pera: Capable of good doubles results alongside Polish partner, Magda Linette
- Asia Muhammad and Alycia Parks: Sky is the limit for this big-serving, big-hitting team…but may depend on the kind of day Parks is having.
- Madison Keys and Peyton Stearns (wildcards): Big forehands galore!
- Ashlyn Krueger and Sloane Stephens (wildcards): Tough opener against Gauff and Pegula that will bring the crowds.
The men’s doubles field features 10 American players headlined by big-named singles stars Frances Tiafoe/Tommy Paul and Chris Eubanks/Ben Shelton who are each teaming up together. Other notable names in the draw include world No. 1 Austin Krajicek, world No. 7 Rajeev Ram, and the up-and-coming pairing of Nate Lammons/Jackson Withrow who recently cracked the top 25 for the first time in their career. Americans Sebastian Korda and Will Blumberg will also be in action alongside respective partners, Andy Murray and Casper Ruud.
Mixed Doubles, Anyone?
Mixed doubles is considered by many as an untapped resource in professional tennis. With men and women competing on the same tour at many combined events, it seems like a no-brainer to bring them together more often. Outside of the majors and team exhibition events, however, mixed doubles has yet to become a consistent fixture at tour-level tournaments.
Indian Wells became the first Masters 1000 event to bring mixed doubles to life. The impromptu announcement from tournament director, Tommy Haas, came early during the second week with an 8-team field that competed for $150,000 in prize money. Aussies Matt Ebden and Storm Hunter walked away with the inaugural Indian Wells mixed doubles title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the French pair of Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Though the mixed doubles announcement came last minute and the event wasn’t televised, it was well received by the tennis community and could be an interesting blueprint for other Masters 1000 events to follow in the future with more scheduling flexibility over the lengthened two-week format. Could we see tournament director, James Blake, and his team at the Miami Open dip their toes into the mixed doubles pond this year as well?
Five First-Round Popcorn Matches
More than any other tournament, the Masters 1000 events typically bring the best first-round matchups. In an event where the doubles ranking cutoff is incredibly low and singles stars turn out for doubles, there is nowhere to hide in the first round for any good doubles team. Be sure to circle these first-round matches in both draws.
5 WTA Matches to Watch
- No. 4 Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez vs. Veronika Kudermetova/Anastasia Potapova
- No. 5 Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula vs. Ashlyn Krueger/Sloane Stephens
- No. 6 Beatriz Haddad-Maia/Taylor Townsend vs. Asia Muhammad/Alycia Parks
- Lyudmyla Kichenok/Jelena Ostapenko vs. Marie Bouzkova/Sara Sorribes-Tormo
- Caroline Dolehide/Desirae Krawczyk vs. Anhelina Kalinina/Dayana Yastremska
5 ATP Matches to Watch
- Thanasi Kokkinakis/Stefanos Tstitsipas vs. Alex de Minaur/Rinky Hijikata
- No. 1 Rohan Bopanna/Matt Ebden vs. Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori
- No. 3 Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury vs. Will Blumberg/Casper Ruud
- No. 5 Santiago Gonzalez/Neal Skupski vs. Marcelo Melo/Edouard Roger-Vasselin
- No. 6 Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni vs. Nate Lammons/Jackson Withrow
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