DOHA NEWS & NOTES
*In the history of this tournament dating back to 2001, no team has ever won back-to-back titles at this spot. Last year’s champions, Schuurs-Stefani, are no longer a pairing to ensure that streak continues. Shuurs-Stefani won the titles as the 5th seed in 2024 as 1.57 (-175) favorites in the championship match over unseeded duo Dolehide-Krawczyk. Schuurs is back with her new partner, Asia Muhammad. Stefani is in with her 2025 partner, Peyton Stearns. The straight sets finish last year ended a five year run of super tie breaks in the final.
*There has only been one underdog winner in the Doha final in the last nine years. That was Gauff-Pegula in 2022 at 2.41 (+141). Overall, dogs barked for 13 wins out of 26 completed matches. Six of those wins came in round one with seeded upsets accounting for two of those hits. The largest win came at 3.40 (+240) when Hozumi-Ninomiya knocked off (6)Kichenok-Ostapenko. The second round housed most of the rest with five of the seven completed matches that round going the way of the dog.
*With the larger field of 28, those two rounds seem to be the best place to focus for those underdog wins. Five seeds lost their openers in 2024 with two of those being in the top four coming off first round byes in round two. 2023 had a smaller field, so looking back to the larger field again in 2022, there were just two seeds who went one and done. One of those again was a top four seed.
*Last year, just one of the semifinalists was seeded. That was down after three seeds made the semis in 2023. There has been at least one unseeded pair in the final four each of the last four runs in Doha. Three of the last four years has seen an unseeded finalist with Gauff-Pegula as the last unseeded pair to take the titles in 2022. Prior to that, you have to go back to 2019 to see the last unseeded champs (Chan sisters).
*Super tie breaks made up just a small portion of the results last year with only six needed out of the 27 matches played. That was the same number as 2023, but the 2023 version of this tournament had just 16 teams compared to 28 in the expanded field. The last time the field was at 28 (same as this year) was 2022, where eight super tie breaks were needed. One spot that has been void of STBs recently is the Doha semifinals, with only one of the last six seeing a STB finish.
*This year’s field is led by (1)Dabrowski-Routliffe. They were one of the top four seeds in 2024 that were knocked out in their opener in round two off the bye. The highlight of this week for many will be the return of (2)Hsieh-Ostapenko for the first time since their Australian Open finals’ loss. Ostapenko played this past week with Ellen Perez, notching a trip to the championship match in Abu Dhabi. Hsieh has been off. Let’s remember prior to their AO run, they had dropped their openers in each of their first two tournaments together. Rounding out the top four seeds are Errani-Paolini and Kenin-Kichenok. Kenin & Lyudmyla are teaming up for the first time.
THE UNSEEDED MENACES
This field is packed full of talent, so there are plenty of unseeded pairs to watch for this week that could make deep runs. Here’s a look at the best of the bunch.
Andreeva-Shnaider
THEY’RE BACK! The young Russians have been fantastic as they expand to play more tournaments together this year. So far, it’s 8-1 with a championship in Brisbane and a Grand Slam semifinal in Melbourne. This pair is located in the quarter with top seeds Dabrowski-Routliffe and they could post a stiff test for those two in round two. A win there and you could argue they’re the favorites in the top half to make the final. As always, the one thing to consider is how their singles play will balance with doubles.
Krueger-Pegula
This interesting all-American duo will battle the powerful Russians in round one. That match could well shape who escapes the top quarter with a semifinal berth. They’ve played just once this year in Adelaide, but it was a good win over Hsieh-Ostapenko. Their only other time playing came in Tokyo in 2023, so there is still some question as to how well they will gel. Still, a win over Andreeva-Shnaider would certainly signal they are contenders. As with the Russians however, the question will linger, perhaps even more so, how will they balance any deep singles runs with doubles?
Mladenovic-Zhang
They will continue to be dangerous floaters until they accrue enough points to be seeded. That’s probably coming sooner rather than later as they’ve shown last year’s US Open finals’ run is no fluke. They are in off a finals showing in Abu Dhabi and they also made a quarterfinal in Melbourne. They’re in the Errani-Paolini quarter that looks like it will have some healthy competition throughout and they’ll certainly be ones to watch.
Wang-Zheng
While they haven’t beaten top tier teams yet in 2025, their 5-2 record is solid with a finals run in Singapore as the highlight. They’ll draw (6)Mertens-Perez to start, a new duo for 2025 that has only played twice, splitting two matches at the Australian Open. I think Mertens-Perez will find their groove at some point, but with Perez coming off a week with Ostapenko, it’s the transition back that could set up Wang-Zheng for an early upset. A win there and they could find themselves in the quarterfinal mix.
Haddad Maia-Siegemund
In that same section, these two lurk as real danger to all. At 5-2 this season, they’ve already made one final and narrowly lost to Dabrowski-Routliffe in 3rd round play at the Australian Open. With Kenin-Kichenok and Mertens-Perez as the seed in that quarter, HM-Siegemund could well wind up as the team to beat If they play at a high level.
Kostyuk-Ruse
It’s a rare non-Grand Slam tournament for this pair who have not played anything with Slams since Rome in 2023. Their last seven tournaments have all been Grand Slams. They made a solid quarterfinal run at the AO with a victory over Mertens-Perez in that mix. They play one of the most intriguing openers against (5)Chan-Kudermetova, who reunite this week for the first time since the end of 2024 that saw them go 30-11.
Babos/Melichar-Martinez
They’re tallying some wins at 6-4, but they’ve yet to truly get on a roll. It seems like it might just be a matter of time, so could this be the week? Having Hsieh-Ostapenko in their direct path potentially along with Stefani-Stearns as their opener might say no again, but that quarter looks wide open to me. It’s going to be a battle all the way, but one of these weeks they are going to fully click.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
It’s an interesting mix of regular pairings and some newer ones that are still feeling each other out. Some of these pairs have either been off or away from working together since Australia, so this brings all the much more to watch for early on in Doha. Here’s a look at the seeded pairs who could find an early exit.
(1)Dabrowski-Routliffe
It’s their first tournament since losing in the Australian Open semifinals, so there’s a fair question of whether that layoff will hurt early on. That is exacerbated by a potential clash against Andreeva-Shnaider to start or Krueger-Pegula. I’d give the young Russians the better shot at causing some seeded carnage in that spot.
(2)Hsieh-Ostapenko
I’m expecting that the second seeds have probably worked past their early issues, but clearly with time in between tournaments, you never know how that chemistry is going to hold or not. I think the team that could trouble them in their opener is Jiang-Wu. They’re 8-1 on the year after winning titles in Auckland and Hobart. They lost early in Melbourne, so they have had a long break from each other as well. Perhaps that aids Hsieh-Ostapenko in avoiding any early trouble?
(4)Kenin-Kichenok
They’re high up on my list this week of ones who could be in the most trouble in their opener. That will come to fruition I think IF Haddad Maia-Siegemund win their opener and advance. If it’s Alexandrova-Samsonova, they’ll certainly have confidence, but I think they bring less consistency overall in doubles play. This will be Kenin’s third partner already in 2025, so learning another partner always breeds questions about chemistry. Facing a team with chemistry and probably better talent overall in Haddad Maia-Siegemund, would make that open all that much tougher.
(6)Mertens-Perez
I touched on this earlier with Mertens-Perez still short on reps as a new team this year. Ellen is switching off from Ostapenko, which brings its own differences of course. Taking on a talented team in Wang-Zheng first means that they’ll need to find some rhythm early or they could be out of the draw quickly.
(8)Muhammad-Shuurs
This new duo for 2025 is 3-3 with two opening losses out of three tournaments played. They were tough luck losers in a super tie break (10-8) against Aoyama-Hozumi last week in Abu Dhabi. They get Fernandez & Nadiya Kichenok to start off. That pair has played four matches together, splitting them. With the learning curve still on for the seeds here, this one could be tight and they have shown a propensity for having to play extra tennis of late with three straight matches needing a 3rd set or super tie break to settle.
Click on DRAW PREVIEW to see the Doha doubles draw
TOP HALF
If Dabrowski-Routliffe are going to make it as far as the semifinals, they’re going to really earn it. They may need to go through Andreeva-Shnaider to start and have a quality duo in Danilina-Khromacheva waiting on the other side of the quarter. Almost all of the unseeded pairs in the first quarter have enough talent to be dangerous with the likes of Aoyama-Hozumi, Krueger-Pegula and Krawczyk-Olmos in that group. This is certainly a chance to Dabrowski-Routliffe to cement themselves as one of the best in the business if they get through this gauntlet and make it as far as a final. They’ve got the talent, but I’d like their chances better if their opener was a bit kinder. As such, you know I’m looking at one of my favorites in Andreeva-Shnaider to be in the mix to get to the semis. They have the power and the serving to do it.
The other quarter in this half sees (3)Errani-Paolini looking for win number two of the season. The Italians only played the Australian Open early and loss to Andreeva-Shnaider in round two. They lost their opener in Doha last year in a super tie break after taking titles in Linz. Their draw looks reasonable that if they get out of the gates with a win, then it could be game on for the third seeds to push into the title mix. Muhammad-Schuurs are the other seeds in this section. They have a much tougher half with Fernandez-Kichenok first and then likely Mladenovic-Zhang in round two. Mladenovia-Zhang are an easy and obvious sleeper pick in this section with the results they’ve shown already in 2025. They’re 20-7 on hard courts going into the Abu Dhabi final tomorrow. A quarterfinal clash between them and Errani-Paolini would be a BANGER for sure.
Seeds are guaranteed nothing in this half with some of the most dynamic duos in the unseeded field sprinkled into this part of the draw. Andreeva-Shnaider are number one on the list for me and Mladenovic-Zhang certainly have to be next. The super sleepers might be Krueger-Pegula, but I do worry about both carrying double duty this week, especially with Krueger in off making the Abu Dhabi singles final. I’d given Errani-Paolini a slight nod amongst the seeds simply because of that potential opener for Dabrowski-Routliffe being so harsh.
My Favorite: Errani-Paolini
My Sleeper: Andreeva-Shnaider
BOTTOM HALF
The most surprising thing for the third quarter might be seeing either seed, Mertens-Perez or Kenin-Kichenok, making it through to the semifinals. It’s not that the talent isn’t there, but this quarter is drenched in unseeded talent. For Mertens-Perez, that could be evident in round one where they face Wang-Zheng. That said, hard court were not their best surface, at least outdoors. They’ve thrived on indoor courts at 13-2 since last year. The outdoor environment could favor Mertens-Perez enough to avoid early defeat. Kenin-Kichenok are one of the most prone seeds for me in their openers outside of Dabrowski-Routliffe, if it’s Haddad Maia-Siegemund that they meet. HM-Siegemund look the part of unseeded runners in this quarter. Don’t forget about Mattek-Sands and Safarova. Their first reunion of 2025 was not great with a loss in Abu Dhabi, but we know if they get switched on, they can be dangerous. But is their time past? It was 2017 the last time when they were really dominant, winning the French Open. They could still hassle teams, but they need an early win for confidence.
The final quarter puts (2)Hsieh-Ostapenko back together. Ostapenko’s doubles game seems to be clicking as her Abu Dhabi run with Ellen Perez shows. The question of course is what happens switching back to a very different style of partner? Not to mention that there are unseeded land mines all throughout this quarter. Jiang-Wu could be the first of those they see in their opener. They’re 16-6 on hard courts and an opening win would get rid of any rust questions about them with this also being their first match since Melbourne. Don’t sleep on Bucsa-Kato in round one against them however. That pair has been very competitive in their four career matches together, with three of them going to super tie breaks. They narrowly lost to Mladenovic-Zhang in their opener in Abu Dhabi last week.
In the other half, can Chan-Kudermetova co-exist again? They had some chemistry issues, but certainly worked through them for 30 wins in 2024. Playing for the first time together since last November will be tough though against a veteran duo in Kostyuk-Ruse. The survivor of that one has no cake walk in round two with Babos/Melichar-Martinez or Stearns-Stefani waiting up next. I really believe one of the unseeded teams steps in that half to take one of the quarterfinal spots. I also think they’ll definitely have a good shot to grab a semifinal berth. I’m going to stick with the Babos/Melichar-Martinez pairing for that role. I still think they have that “it” factor, but they need to get the big win or they’ll find themselves in question mode every week. I’m definitely not ruling Hsieh-Ostapenko out after what they did in Melbourne, but I’ve got to see how they respond in their opener before I like them enough to tout them as favorites.
My Favorite: Haddad Maia-Siegemund
My Sleeper: Babos/Melichar-Martinez
CLOSING TIME
It’s a monster week for any pairs that are going to team on the regular in 2025. You’ve got 1,000 points at stake to the winner that can quickly propel one of them up the rankings or in the case of Dabrowski-Routliffe or Hsieh-Ostapenko, solidify their places up top. The top seeded team has won in Doha two times in the last five years with the second seeds winning once and making two finals overall. A top four seed has been in the final in five of the last six years at this stop. I’ve still got (3)Errani-Paolini as the likelier of the top seeds to be in the mix, but #1 and #2 are going to be right in it if they avoid the early one and done scenario in tough matchups. History here also indicates that an unseeded pair could well be in the finals mix. Andreeva-Shnaider and Haddad Maia-Siegemund are my two picks to be in that grouping, if it happens. This should be another excellent week of doubles on the WTA Tour. Caffeinate and promote our favorites #WatchMoreDoubles
PIGPIX
Haddad Maia-Siegemund
Errani-Paolini
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