Sinner/Wawrinka vs Djokovic/Kecmanovic Blockbuster Headlines Paris Doubles Draw
Jannik Sinner and Stan Wawrinka will play Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in a blockbuster first-round doubles match at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Neither team has competed together in the past, but there will be plenty of starpower on the court. Djokovic, Sinner and Wawrinka have all cracked the Top 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The winning duo will in the second round face third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, who have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.
Djokovic is competing for the first time since Davis Cup action the week after he won the US Open in September. He is 0-3 in doubles this year. Wawrinka won a doubles title earlier this season in Gstaad with fellow Swiss Dominic Stricker.
Other notable first-round matchups in the doubles draw include Jiri Lehecka/Ben Shelton playing Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz, and Marcelo Melo/Alexander Zverev facing Nathaniel Lammons/Jackson Withrow.
It is a critical week in the chase for one of the four remaining slots at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Lammons and Withrow are eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, but are not currently projected to qualify for the season finale because 17th-placed Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler won this year’s Australian Open and as Grand Slam champions between eighth and 20th, would earn a spot.
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Lammons and Withrow are 445 points behind seventh-placed Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. Other teams currently in a qualifying spot are fourth-placed Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos and fifth-placed Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who triumphed Sunday in Basel.
The top seeds in Paris are Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek and the second seeds are Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, the defending champions.
There are two weeks remaining in the regular season. The week after the Rolex Paris Masters, there will be ATP 250 events in Marseille and Sofia.
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