Doubles Take: ATP hierarchy challenged on multiple fronts

Doubles Take looks at the action on the ATP and WTA tours.

A RACE TO THE TOP

Several of the top teams on the ATP tour have sputtered out the gate so far in 2022. Judging by the way things have gone so far, a few teams that haven’t even been together for a year will be challenging them atop the standings—sooner, rather than later.

Right now, no one is making a harder charge than Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski. The Dutch-English duo just won its third title of the year in Qatar, defeating Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov in straight sets in the final. Teaming up for the first time this year, Koolhof and Skupski have each established a personal best for a season in terms of titles won.

In Delray Beach, Fla., another new partnership kept up its winning ways. Fresh off an indoor title at the Dallas Open, Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo made it two for two at U.S. events with their latest victory, as they eked out a final-round win over Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi. Arevalo has now cracked the Top 25 of the rankings for the first time in his career.

The story of the “Golden Swing”—the series of clay-court tournaments through Latin America—has been Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. They entered last week’s Rio Open in Brazil on a two-tournament winning streak, but couldn’t pick up a third title on the trot as they lost in the semis to Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini. The former Australian Open champions went on to beat Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares for their first title together since that Melbourne win back in 2015.

Still, Gonzalez and Molteni—who’ve won four titles together since first teaming up last fall—look like the team to beat on the clay so far in 2022. And along with the Koolhoff/Skupski and Rojer/Arevalo pairings, they could find themselves battling it out for a top place in the standings this year.

TWICE AS NICE

Shooting up the singles rankings the past couple of years, Andrey Rublev was actually in a bit of a slump, going without a tournament triumph for nearly a year. The Russian ended that drought in a big way in Marseilles, France, as he won his ninth career title.

And after his straight-sets final-round win, he wasn’t done for the day.

Rublev teamed up with Denys Molchanov of the Ukraine for the week, and the duo fought through deciding tiebreaks in all of their matches, including in the final against Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan. It’s the third career doubles title for Rublev, while 34-year-old Molchanov—who’s won more than 60 tournaments between Futures and Challengers—finally made a breakthrough at the ATP level with his first win.

DUBAI DELIGHT

There was almost a singles-doubles sweep on the WTA Tour over the weekend, too. In Dubai, singles champ Jelena Ostapenko and her partner, Lyudmyla Kichenok, advanced to the final. However, their run came to an end at the hands of Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens.

The second seeds had to fight through super tiebreaks in their first two matches before settling into a groove from there. It’s their second title together after Istanbul last year, and could set them up for a strong run in the months ahead should they keep playing together. Their record so far in 2022 is 9-1, which includes a semifinal showing at the Australian Open several weeks ago.

THIS WEEK

For the first time in several weeks, there are two tournaments on the WTA calendar. At the 1000-level event in Qatar, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova—making their return to play since their recent Australian Open win—headline a deep draw, followed by Ena Shibahara and Shuai Zhang. Nicole Melichar and Demi Schuurs are the defending champions, but played with different partners this year. Schuurs is out, but Melichar and Alexa Guarachi are through to the second round. The other tournament this week is in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Elixane Lechemia and Ingrid Neel, the top seeds, will look to win their second title together after Bogota last year. Young Americans—and 2021 Charleston champs—Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally are the second seeds.

The men are taking their turn in Dubai this week, where Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic—in a prolonged slump—are the top seeds. The biggest first-rounder here—and perhaps at any tournament this week—is the one between Koolhof/Skupski and the second seeds, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. The other 500-level tournament on the calendar is in Acapulco, where Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers are the top seeds, followed by Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. The “Golden Swing” wraps up in Santiago, Chile, where the young Brazilian duo of Rafael Matos and Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves are the top seeds, followed by Pedro Martinez and Andrea Vavassori.