Sinner, Rublev among singles stars taking to doubles court in Indian Wells

Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev lead a host of Top 20 singles stars singed up to play doubles at the BNP Paribas Open… and will face each other in the first round. Sinner, who starts the tournament at a career-high No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, will partner fellow Italian 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 partnered at the Davis Cup Finals, where they took out Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in the semi-finals en route to Italy's first Davis Cup title since 1976.

Khachanov and Rublev teamed eight times in 2023, with a title run coming in Madrid and a semi-final appearance in Beijing.

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The winning team will then meet home favourites Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton or fifth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. Atop the draw and placed in that same quarter, top seeds and defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will start against Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

Among the other singles players pulling double duty this fortnight, American No. 1 Taylor Fritz is partnering Jiri Lehecka. Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Neal Skupski clash against Francisco Cerundolo and Cameron Norrie in the opening round.

Australians Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin meet third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the first round, with the winner set to face 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 bid farewell to his career this fortnight alongside Tommy Paul. The wild card duo starts against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.