A host of leading doubles teams are stamping their authority early at this year’s Australian Open.
The 10th-seeded British duo of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski was among those to earn a straight-sets first-round win on Thursday at the hard-court major. Salisbury, a 2020 champion at Melbourne Park, and Skupski defeated Sebastian Baez and Francisco Comesana 7-6(1), 6-4 to seal their progress.
Top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic, and fourth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz were also convincing winners. Arevalo and Pavic, who claimed Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours in 2024, needed just 53 minutes to overcome 2023 Australian Open champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler. They converted five of 10 break points they earned, according to Infosys Stats, en route to a 6-0, 6-2 triumph.
In the second round, Arevalo and Pavic will take on Damir Dzumhur and Petros Tsitsipas. The Bosnian-Greek combo won the final five points of the match to earn a 7-6(1), 2-6, 7-6(10-6) victory against Anirudh Chandrasekar and Karol Drzewiecki.
The 2024 Nitto ATP Finals champions, Krawietz and Puetz raced past David Goffin and Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-1. Sixth seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten downed Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli and Ryan Seggerman 7-6(5), 6-1.
There were two upsets early on Thursday in Melbourne, however. Portuguese duo Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral shocked Auckland champions and fifth seeds Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus 7-6(3), 6-3, while home wild cards Luke Saville and Li Tu downed eighth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-3, 6-4.
There was disappointment for home favourites and 2022 titlists Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios, who were forced to retire from their first-round match against James Duckworth and Aleskandar Vukic. Duckworth and Vukic led 7-5, 3-2 when the retirement came, caused by an injury to Kokkinakis that he had also struggled with during his five-set singles loss to Jack Draper on Wednesday night.
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