© Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios enjoyed a fairytale run at the Australian Open in January, clinching the men’s doubles title together.
Reigning champions Peers/Polasek are seeded fifth
Following the release of the BNP Paribas Open men’s doubles draw, Australian Open champions Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios could face top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in a crunch second-round match in Indian Wells.
The Australian wild cards are teaming for the first time since their dream run to the title in Melbourne and will play Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in a tough first-round test.
Croatians Mektic and Pavic won nine tour-level titles in 2021, including three ATP Masters 1000 crowns. However, they are seeking their first trophy of the season in the California desert and play American wild cards John Isner and Jack Sock in their opening match.
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Second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who captured their maiden Masters 1000 title together in Toronto in August, will face a stiff opening test against German pair Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
The American-British tandem are in the same half of the draw as third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who begin their campaign against Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin. Mahut lifted the trophy in Indian Wells in 2016 with countryman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
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Reigning champions John Peers and Filip Polasek are the fifth seeds and will take on Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in the first round. The Slovakian-Australian team could meet fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the quarter-finals, with the Colombians starting against ATP Tour singles stars Sebastian Korda and Jannik Sinner.
Other singles players in action include Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will partner Feliciano Lopez, Hubert Hurkacz, who teams with Lukasz Kubot and Carlos Alcaraz, who joins forces with fellow Top 20 Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
© Peter Staples/ATP Tour