Doubles
Granollers/Zeballos down singles stars Sinner/Opelka in Indian Wells opener
Top seeds and former finalists are fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings
March 09, 2026
Tennis TV
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos defeat Jannik Sinner and Reilly Opelka in straight sets on Monday.
By ATP Staff
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos made a strong start to their BNP Paribas Open campaign on Monday, when they defeated big-hitting singles stars Reilly Opelka and Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-4.
Sinner, a four-time major champion in singles, and Opelka brought plenty of firepower to the court, but the top seeds proved too solid in a contest packed with entertaining rallies. Zeballos produced the highlight of the match in the second set, when he outfoxed Sinner with a brilliant around-the-net passing shot that electrified the crowd at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Granollers and Zeballos — currently fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings — will next take on Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. The Spaniard and Argentine are hoping to go one step further than they did in Indian Wells in 2024, when they fell in the final to Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda ensured that two singles standouts did advance on Monday by teaming for a 6-7(8), 6-2, 10-5 win over Acapulco champions Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev.
In other doubles action, Alexander Erler and Andrea Vavassori edged eighth seeds Luke Johnson and Jan Zielinski 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-8, while Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase also advanced with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Austin Krajicek and Mektic.
