ROME NEWS & NOTES
*The defending champs, Granollers-Zeballos, come to Rome this year on a heater after winning their first title of 2025 in Madrid. That win catapulted them into the top eight in the live rankings. Last year, Granollers-Zeballos were the top seeds and 1.69 (-145) favorites when they cruised past an unseeded Arevalo-Pavic 6-2, 6-2 in the final to win their 2nd career title at this stop. It marked the 9th straight year that the favorites won the title match in Rome. 2024 was the first time the top seeds won the championship since 2013 when the Bryans won.
*The straight sets finish was the third one in the last four years in Rome. As for super tie breaks overall in 2024, there were eleven out of the 31 matches played. Round one was the home for the majority of the STBs with seven occurring in that round. Five of those involved seeded pairs. The overall number was down from 15 in 2023. The first round also housed most of those with TEN taking place. Half of those involved seeds. The first round trend has been strong for STBs with 17 between 2021 and 2022 included in the mix. Definitely put your focus there if that’s something you like.
*Underdogs were in relatively short supply last year with just nine winning. Of those nine, five of those were at 2.13 (+113) or shorter. The big banger came in round two when Cerundolo-Etcheverry upset (6)Krawietz-Puetz as 4.52 (+352) dogs. Only one dog hit came at the business end of the tournament in the final seven matches (QFs-SFs-F). The overall number was right in line with 2023’s underdog count of nine, but there was a steadier dose of modest to big hits that year. The largest coming at 3.43 (+243) in round two when (6)Heliovaara-Patten were taken out by McDonald-Tiafoe. Both 2023 semifinals did feature underdog wins, but generally in Rome it has been pretty chalky down the stretch.
*As for the seeds, they almost escaped round one unscathed last year with just the four seeds, Krajicek-Skupski, losing. Round two was the place where they found more trouble with four seeds going down in the round of 16. That was a bit of a change from 2023 when three seeds went one and done in round one. Round two remained a steady dumpster fire for them however with three more seeds out in that round.
*With those take downs, unseeded pairs have found the semifinals routinely in recent times. Last year, three of the four semifinal slots went to unseeded pairs. That was the third straight year that has happened. Multiple unseeded duos have been in the final four in Rome each year since 2020. Four of the last five years have seen an unseeded team in the final, but only Nys-Zielinski in 2023 were crowned champs in that stretch as an unseeded pair.
*Arevalo-Pavic are seeded #1 this year after being unseeded this time last year in Rome. The top four round out with Heliovaara-Patten, Krawietz-Puetz and Granollers-Zeballos. Rome has been a nice playground for Mate Pavic who has been involved in the final here three out of the last four years with Arevalo in 2024 and Mektic in 2021 and 2022. Arevalo-Pavic enter the tournament with a slim 120 point lead over Heliovaara-Patten for the top spot in the rankings. It’s a sizeable gap of 800 or so points to 3rd where Cash-Glasspool stand. The Brits are not in the field together this week again due to injury (Glasspool).
THE UNSEEDED MENACES
I touched on the success of unseeded pairs making the semifinals in Rome over the last few years. That means the unseeded field should yield some teams worth watching as dark horse title contenders this week.
Musetti-Sonego
The all-Italian pair squares off with another all-Italian pair in the Berrettini brothers in round one. The Berrettinis haven’t played together recently with their last doubles match coming in 2023. Musetti-Sonego haven’t played a ton recently either, but did pair up in Hong Kong early in the year for a tough super tie break loss in their opener. Last year in Doha, they made a strong run to the final. They have the experience to be an annoyance to all pairs, but do have a difficult draw.
Behar-Nys
This is a total piggy sense pick as these two pair up for the first time. Behar comes in off a Challenger title with his semi-regular 2025 partner Vliegen, while Nys was left looking for a partner after Roger-Vaselin had a procedure done to clean up an issue in his elbow. Nys has shown good versatility in that regard with a finals run at the Aix en Provence Challenger alongside Arribage last week. They’re also in a tough quarter with Krawietz-Puetz and Bolelli-Vavassori, but the Germans have struggled here and the Italians have lost four of their last five. Stranger things have happened.
Goransson-Verbeek
They remain a real threat most weeks. They narrowly lost to Krawietz-Puetz in round two in Madrid last week (10-7) in a super tie break. That came off their title run in Munich where they beat the Germans in the title match. They’re in the Arevalo-Pavic quarter, but they do own a win over last year’s French Open champions earlier in the year at the Australian Open.
Arends-Johnson
I’m not certain how they would fare against the top tier teams on clay and they could see the defending champs, Granollers-Zeballos, early. Granollers-Zeballos cruised 6-4, 6-2 in Madrid when they met last week, but often that second straight meeting is tougher on the previous winner. This combo has been a consistent winner in 2025 at 18-10, 10-4 on clay with the title run in Barcelona and a Challenger title to boot.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
Where does danger lurk for the seeded pairs in their openers? Let’s take a closer look.
(4)Granollers-Zeballos
A bit of a gut check on this one as most would not think the defending champs who are hot off a title in Madrid would be due for any regression. Still, last time they won a title in Bucharest, they lost their next two openers. Madrid certainly showed their best with huge wins over top tier teams, but the conditions change and it’s a new week. Bhambri-Galloway are the opposition in round one. They’re 0-2, pushing Krawietz-Puetz and Heliovaara-Patten to second set tie breaks before ultimately falling straights both times. Still, they’re keeping matches close and that’s always where the underdog can take advantage of those slim margins on occasion.
(6)Mektic-Venus
These two remain on my list most weeks simply due to their propensity to play super tie breaks. They added two more to their count in Madrid last week, surviving one in their opener before falling to Arevalo-Pavic in the other in the quarterfinals. Dating back to Dubai in late February, they’ve lost three openers and seen super tie breaks in the three they survived. Bopanna-Pavlasek are unknown factor due to their lack of play together, but those two veterans should be fully capable of pushing the seeds to the brink if they mesh together well.
(7)Harrison-King
If you’re looking at a big dog in round one, you might look at the Italians taking on the 7th seeds. Wild cards Bellucci-Romano have not played together, but Romano in particular has shown a flair for winning on clay at the lower levels. Bellucci has played sparingly in doubles in 2025, but all three of his matches were tight (1-2). I had a feeling Harrison-King would get some wins on clay last week in Madrid with the altitude helping quicken the conditions. Back on a slower clay, do they revert to the duo that lost three straight openers in Houston, Monte-Carlo and Munich on this surface?
(8)Gonzalez-Molteni
The Argentinians play Rome for just the second time with 2023 proving poor for them as they were crushed by Ram-Salisbury in their opener. They’ve still been up and down on clay in the Euro swing at 3-3 with one of those losses being an opening failure against Arends-Johnson in Barcelona. They get the singles pairing of Arnaldi-Popyrin, which might seem a mismatch on paper with those two pairing for the first time. Still, both have shown the ability to keep their doubles matches tight in limited action. Any time you keep sets close and push things to a tie break or a super breaker, you never know what can happen.
DRAW PREVIEW
TOP HALF
Arevalo-Pavic highlight the first quarter as the top seeds. They’ve been big at Masters events this year with all three of their finals coming at these Masters 1000s in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid. Madrid was the first one where they failed to win the final. I think it’s a fairly good set up for them in this quarter with Harrison-King as the seeds in the opposite quadrant. Arevalo-Pavic have Cash-Miedler as a mix and match pair to start and then it’s Opelka-Paul or Gille-Zielinski. On hard courts, I’d probably give that winner a better shot to put a scare in the top seeds. On clay though, I think Arevalo-Pavic pass musters into the quarterfinals.
In the Harrison-King half, I already touched on the potential for the seeds to perhaps revert to the pair we saw struggling to get clay court wins prior to Madrid. If they survive their opener, it might be Goransson-Verbeek who do them in. They’re set to battle Thompson and JP Smith in round one, but that may be in question after Thompson withdrew from singles on Friday. Keep an eye on that spot because I believe Arneodo-Guinard are the next alternates who could slot in if the Aussies can’t go. The Monte-Carlo champs would be an instant contender for a spot in the last eight if they get into this draw and put a big time BANGER ALERT out for round one I think regardless of which team plays Goransson-Verbeek. For me the winner of that opener is the one I’m looking at to get in opposite Arevalo-Pavic in the quarters.
To the second quarter where (4)Granollers-Zeballos will look to defend their titles. Mektic-Venus are the seeds in the other half. Starting off with Granollers-Zeballos, I do think Bhambri-Galloway can provide a stern test in round one. Sound the BANGER alarm for the other match in this part of the draw with Matos-Melo battling Arends-Johnson. Matos-Melo were dangerous in the South American swing with the titles in Rio punctuating a great swing. Since then, they’ve been saddled with playing Arevalo-Pavic twice in openers and lost their other match in Munich in a super tie break. I think Arends-Johnson would be the tougher out moving forward, but there’s no guarantee they survive Matos-Melo. Granollers-Zeballos may well push through the early rounds, but there’s bound to be a tough match or two.
In the other half, Mektic-Venus are going to have a hard time getting wins in this section. They might escape Bopanna-Pavlasek as those two work out what works and doesn’t work in their first match together. I’m not sure they’ll escape round two where it’s either Salisbury-Skupski or Lammons-Withrow. The Americans suffered a tough super tie break loss in their Madrid opener, their first match together in nearly three months. Can they improve even if the conditions don’t suit them as well? Salisbury-Skupski have been playing better on clay (5-3), but have seen super tie breaks in four of those matches. The margins are slim, so that match with Lammons-Withrow likely spins off a tie break or two and/or a super tie break. That win may be the confidence builder needed to pull of a second win in the next round.
Granollers-Zeballos are the sure favorites as defending champs and in-form pair from Madrid. Still, their quarter is littered with those unseeded menaces. I’ll go with Arevalo-Pavic as the favorites if for nothing else than they’ll be motivated to gain some revenge on Granollers-Zeballos for last year’s final and last week’s final in Madrid. Keep your eyes on Arends-Johnson and Salisbury-Skupski as sleepers.
My Favorite: Arevalo-Pavic
My Sleeper: Salisbury-Skupski
BOTTOM HALF
A surging (3)Krawietz-Puetz lead this third quarter, but will be looking to overcome a poor resume in Rome. The Germans have not been past the second round in either of their prior two trips. Still, six wins in their last eight say they should be considered favorites. I’d expect them to get through round one against Baez-Muller. Round two will be more intriguing where Ebden-Peers or Behar-Nys will be waiting. It’s been a disappointing reunion for Ebden-Peers this year following their magic gold medal run last Summer. The Aussies are just 4-5, 1-3 on clay with a poor 6-3, 6-0 loss to Cash-Tracy at the Aix en Provence Challenger last week. If Behar-Nys have the chemistry, I like them to advance and potentially cause some trouble for the Germans.
In the other half, it’s the home-standing Italians Bolelli-Vavassori as the seeds. Can Rome renew this struggling pair? They made the semifinals here a year ago in their first foray at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. They’ve been disastrous since winning Rotterdam in February with a 2-6 record and opening losses in four of six tournaments. They face Italian teens Bondioli-Caniato who have racked up plenty of Futures wins together. This is a massive step up and should allow for Bolelli-Vavassori to get off to a smooth start. It’s either Doumbia-Reboul or Cerundolo-Carabelli next. Doumbia-Reboul may theoretically be more dangerous, but you might be able to say that about most times right now against the struggling seeds. I still like Bolelli-Vavassori here to get on track even if they’re hard to trust right now.
If it comes down to Krawietz-Puetz and Bolelli-Vavassori for the semifinal berth, the Italians lead the head-to-head 3-2. The last meeting was early this year in Adelaide where they squeaked one out 11-9 in the super tie break. Most of their matches have been competitive with two of the last three going the distance. It would be their first meeting on clay.
The final quarter sees (2)Heliovaara-Patten leading the way. They continue to be a model of consistency with quarterfinals or better in seven of nine tournaments played. That said, they have not made a final since Dubai at the end of February. On clay, they’re a solid 4-2. I don’t envision Cobolli-Korda knocking them out in round one. Those are two capable singles players who have plenty of doubles time, but none together. Round two is where the road gets bumpier with one of two Italian teams lying in wait. I talked earlier about Musetti-Sonego’s chances of a being a dark horse type this week as they square off with the Berrettinis in the opening round. That’ll be fun for the crowd at least. I’d rate Musetti-Sonego the bigger menace to see Heliovaara-Patten for a shot at a quarterfinal.
It’s Gonzalez-Molteni as the seeds in the other half of this last quarter. The eight seeds could find life difficult against Arnaldi-Popyrin in round one. The winner there gets either Murray-Ram or Davidovich Fokina-Fils. Both those pairs have limited time together this year. The doubles “specialists” Murray-Ram have gone 1-3, but they did take Arevalo-Pavic to a super tie break in their Madrid loss last week. ADF-Fils have one match together from Hong Kong in late December where they earned a win on hard courts. Neither plays much doubles, but in round one where they might have a better grip on the conditions after singles play, they might end up being a capable winner. I’m still a little hesitant on Gonzalez-Molteni, but this is their surface and this draw is suitable for them to get a quarterfinal shot. I think if Heliovaara-Patten can survive their Italian foes in round two, they’re the ones that get it done. I’d rate Musetti-Sonego as real threats to both seeds in this quarter though if they can advance.
This half is way more loaded than the top half with Heliovaara-Patten and Krawietz-Puetz carrying solid form to Rome. You also have home cooking perhaps on the menu to get Bolelli-Vavassori back to their winning ways. That makes it more difficult to predict, although you could say the Germans might be a longer shot with their poor history at this event. They’d also likely have a tougher route just getting to a semifinal with Bolelli-Vavassori scheduled to be in the way (in my estimation). From the sounds of it, Heliovaara has indicated a good training camp in London in preparation for this week in Rome. That means I’ll be chalky and have the two seeds as my favorites in this half.
If there is a surprise other than the Italian seeds finding form here, I’m looking to that Musetti-Sonego pairing. They may well be one and done in round one, but I do think they’ve got the chemistry to win a few and be the typical fly-in-the-ointment type dark horses.
My Favorite: Heliovaara-Patten
My Sleeper: Musetti-Sonego
CLOSING TIME
Rome last year gave us a great finals match-up, even if the final itself fell flat. Do we get something that rivals that again in 2025? I feel like Arevalo-Pavic are hitting full stride and ready to score a big win. Plus, Pavic LOVES making finals here. They’re my top choice. I may be putting too much into the home setting helping Bolelli-Vavassori “get right” this week, but I really feel like the Italians early draw gives them chances to score confidence boosting wins. After that, it’s probably on them to prove they are back with wins over top tier teams like Krawietz-Puetz and Heliovaara-Patten. Color me dumb.
PIG PIX
Arevalo-Pavic
Bolelli-Vavassori
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS & PICKS 