Singles slayers Arevalo and Pavic claim Indian Wells doubles title

Top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic completed a week of upending teams of Top-50 singles players when they defeated Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson to win the BNP Paribas Open doubles title Saturday evening.

The 2024 Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF team claimed a 6-3, 6-4 win in the championship match after defeating three other Top 50 singles pairs en route to the final: Baez/Etcheverry, Draper/Machac and Berrettini/Sonego.

By reaching the final, Pavic became just the sixth player to reach the doubles final at all nine ATP Masters 1000s. It was his 40^th career title and seventh at the Masters 1000 level. Arevalo, who is the first Central American champion in tournament history, claimed his 14^th career title and third at this level.

“It’s a very special one, as it was the last Masters final I reached,” Pavic said. “You’re always thrilled to win any title, but especially here in Indian Wells, the so-called fifth Slam.”

Arevalo said: “Playing the singles guys is always very challenging and it’s great for the doubles game that the singles guys play, making it good for the crowd. We are just extremely happy that we are able to get through all the singles guys and to play great this week.”

Korda and Thompson, who won the Madrid title on debut last year, have reached two finals in three outings as a pair.