Doubles Wrap: Handful of Players Still Seeking $1M Bonus

With $1 million on the line for a player who is able to capture both singles and doubles titles in their respective draws, week two of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open should provide its share of fireworks.

But Monday brought a bit of a surprise: There were no women remaining in both singles and doubles. On the men’s side of things, however, there are six men still alive in both singles and doubles – all with a chance to win both titles and take home that seven-figure supplemental.

They are: Jack Sock, Feliciano Lopez, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Pablo Cuevas, Pablo Carreno Busta and Sam Querrey.

So how did things shake out in doubles on Monday?

ATP World Tour

The men’s draw provided intriguing Round of 16 matchups, highlighted by five-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares battling Giles Muller and American Sam Querrey. It was Muller/Querrey who proved to be too much in the end, overcoming the No. 4 seeded duo in a match tiebreak 7-5, 6-7(4) [10-4]. They await the winner of a Herbert/Nicolas Mahut and Cuevas/Horacio Zeballos, which takes place on Tuesday.

The all-Spanish team of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez took down the sixth-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecău in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.

Americans John Isner and Sock advanced to the quarterfinals on a walkover at the hands of Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer, Ferrer pulling out due to illness.

Also winners: Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, the No. 3 seeds, as well as No. 8 Ivan Dodig/Rajeev Ram.

WTA

In the women’s draw, top-seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina (also champs here in 2013) crusied past the Belarusian team of Victoria Azarenka/Aryna Sabalenka in just 72 minutes 6-4, 6-3. The tournament favorites will look to stay the course in hopes of capturing their second title at Indian Wells. Up next: Lara Arruabarrena and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain.

Third-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan survived a tight contest against Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke 6-4, 7-5, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against the No. 8 seeds, Maria Jose Martínez Sánchez and Andreja Klepač.

In perhaps the biggest surprise of the day in either doubles draw, Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strýcová picked up their second straight three-set victory, this time at the expense of the second-seeded Chan sisters, Chan Hao-Ching and Latisha, 6-4, 5-7 [10-4].  They get Katarina Srebotnik and Vania King in the quarterfinals.

Look ahead – Tuesday

Tuesday’s slate will determine the remaining two ATP quarterfinal spots up for grabs, as well as kick off quarterfinal action in the women’s draw.

The Bryan brothers will face a daunting test in Pablo Carreno Busta and David Marrero; Herbert/Mahut will try to slow down the strong performing Argentine duo of Cuevas/Zeballos; Babos/Mladenovic enter the WTA quarterfinal as favorites in a showdown with Niculescu/Hlavackova; Hsieh/Strýcová look to remain hot against King/Srebotnik; and Dabrowski/Xu hope to advance to the semifinals with Martínez Sánchez/Klepač standing in the way.