Doubles Take: Australian Open Preview

The year’s first major, the Australian Open, is here. Doubles Take previews the men’s and women’s team events, with daily coverage on the way.

THE MEN

Last year, the fourth-seeded team of Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 3 seeds and six-time champions, in the final of the Australian Open.

This year has already gotten off to a great start for the defending champs, who enter the tournament as the No. 2 seeds, having just won the title in Brisbane.

They’re not the only team entering the Australian Open with an unblemished record.

Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo started their season off with a win over the weekend in Sydney. The No. 7-seeded team of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic has done a step better.

Marach and Pavic kicked off 2018 with titles in Doha and Auckland, but could be tested early with a potential second-rounder against Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak. Marach and Pavic are in the section of the draw that includes the No. 4 seeds, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Kubot and Melo are in the same section of the draw as the new team of Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, while Kontinen and Peers could potentially see a rematch of last year’s final against the Bryans in the quarters.

Also in the bottom half of the draw are the 2016 champions, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, and Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.  Last year’s winners could see the sentimental favorites in the second round: Lleyton Hewitt, who came out of retirement for the event, and Sam Groth, who’s calling it a career after the Australian Open.

THE WOMEN

In the women’s singles, one of the most highly anticipated matches as far as upset potential was Belinda Bencic versus Venus Williams. The women’s doubles also has a marquee matchup right off the bat.

Home-country favorites Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, the No. 3 seeds, kick off their campaign against Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs, who enter the event fresh off a win in Hobart.

For Schuurs, it was her second title in a row, having won Brisbane with Kiki Bertens.  If Schuurs and Mertens pull off the upset, they could possibly see Bertens with her longtime partner Johanna Larsson in the quarterfinals.

The top-seeded team of Latisha Chan and Andrea Hlavackova enter the event having shown steady progress as a new team. They're coming off their first final of the year in Sydney. In the round of 16, they could face the veteran Katarina Srebotnik and her partner, Chan’s sister, Hao-Ching Chan. Hlavackova’s former partner Timea Babos (and Kristina Mladenovic) lurk as quarterfinal opponents.

In the top half of the draw with Chan and Hlavackova is the No. 4-seeded team of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova. Last year, Safarova won the title with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Mattek-Sands is still recovering from injury (but you can see her commentating for ESPN). Safarova and Strycova (Czech Fed Cup teammates) know each other’s game well, having won the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. A tough second-rounder looms against Raluca Olaru and Olga Savchuk, and in the quarters, they could face Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng, who reached the final last year with Hlavackova.

The No. 2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina enter this year’s tournament with an extra incentive: the opportunity to make history. The only major title missing from their collection is the Australian Open. The Russians have a tricky opener against Eugenie Bouchard and Sloane Stephens. In the quarterfinals, Makarova and Vesnina could see Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu, who just won Sydney.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias