ATP WASHINGTON, DC NEWS & NOTES
*Bolelli-Vavassori will be back to defend their 2025 titles as they seek to become the first pair in nearly 20 years to go back-to-back in DC. If you guessed the last ones to do it were the Bryan brothers, thanks for playing AND you’re correct! It was 2006-2007 when they pulled off the repeat. The Italians won last year as the top seeds, beating (3)Nys/Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-4 in the final as 1.62 (-161) favorites in the final. The win marked the fourth straight season the favorite won the title match.
*The straight sets finish also continued a trend with four of the last five DC Opens seeing the final go down in two sets. That was a stark contrast to the rounds prior to the final in 2025 that saw eight super tie break finishes out of 14 completed matches. Five of those came in round one. And speaking of contrasts: 2024 had ONE super tie break finish out of 14 matches. That was the bland meat in the STB sandwich with 2023 seeing a whopping ten matches go the distance. Focus your energy on the opening round with three of the last four runs in DC seeing four or five of the eight opening round matches go to super tie breaks.
*Underdog wins were scarce last year with just three total and all of them came in round one. That one did involve a seed losing. All three came in round one. Those numbers were down from five underdog wins in 2024. Three of those came in the opening round. 2023 was the high-water mark for u-dog success with eight dogs winning out of 15 completed matches. Those were spread fairly evenly with three in the first round, three in the quarters and both semifinals going to the dogs. Round one still looks like the focal point with at least three dog scores each run in DC since 2018
*Unseeded duos filled half the semifinal field in 2025. As recently as 2023, we had unseeded champs in Gonzalez-Molteni who beat Ben Shelton and Mackie McDonald in the final that year. 2022 and 2023 went back-to-back with unseeded winners with Kyrgios-Sock taking the 2022 titles. I will focus more on the unseeded field next to see who this week’s menaces could be.
Let’s inspect the unseeded field to see which pairs could emerge as factors in DC this week.
Miedler-Polmans
If you’re a casual fan, welcome. Let’s intro you to the hottest new pair you don’t yet know. That’s Miedler-Polmans who went back-to-back for clay titles in Gstaad and Kitzbuhel the last two weeks. Now the question will be can that translate to hard court success? We will find out right away as their eight match win streak will be up against (4)Andreozzi-Guinard in round one. That’s a key match that could shake things up right away.
Doumbia-Reboul
This French pair is enjoying a great campaign as they have a realistic shot to score their first ATP Tour Finals berth in 2026. Work is still to be done as they sit in 9th currently, just 125 points out of 8th and only 130 back of Krawietz-Puetz who they could pass this week with the Germans not paired up. They were tough-luck losers to Bolelli-Vavassori in a super tie break in round one here a year ago, but should have a better draw with a qualifier scheduled for their round one foe.
Nys/Roger-Vasselin
They still can’t seem to find their consistency from week-to-week, but they’ve had some big results in the last couple months. That includes a French Open quarterfinal and winning grass court titles in Eastbourne. The 2025 DC runners-up had a rough go on hard courts early in the season (6-6) and draw Arribage-Olivetti to start. They’re also in what looks like the proverbial “group of death” quarter with Andreozzi-Guinard and Miedler-Polmans in the quadrant opposite of them. They were in better form last year, but you never know when it’s going to click for them.
Hidalgo-Shelton
Shelton is one of those singles guys shows up to play a bit more doubles than most throughout the year. In 2026, he’s 7-3 with titles in Houston and most recently, a semifinal run on grass in Halle. Hidalgo is onto an 8th different partner this year. He had great success with Trhac on hard courts earlier in the year winning back-to-back Challenger titles. I’m intrigued to see these two as they did play once back in 2023, a competitive clay court loss to Erler-Miedler. Harrison-Skupski will be a tough battle to start, but they’re just 1-2 on surface switches this season, so let’s see what happens.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
At least one seed has lost each run in DC since 2018. Being the first hard court tournament for the seeds, that does perhaps open up the path for at least one more upset in 2026. Here’s the seeds who look most prone to going home early.
(2)Harrison-Skupski
I talked up Hildago-Shelton in the last section, so yes I have Harrison-Skupski on upset watch. That might be misplaced as this year’s Australian Open champs have only lost their opener twice this year with the last coming back in mid-April in Barcelona. I still think this is a tricky opener though, so I will not be surprised to at least see this one go to a super tie break.
(3)Cash-Glasspool
I’m still not buying that the Brits are “back” after that Wimbleon quarterfinal run. That seemed more like a draw-fueled run than showing they’re at their best just yet. This is still a pair that has lost their opener five times this year and a couple of those came on hard courts. They get Bhambri-Venus who might be happy to see hard courts after a poor grass swing. This is a pair that made the quarters in DC in 2025 with both matches going to super tie breaks. Don’t forget during this swing last year, six of their seven matches went to STBs. I think they’ll be more competitive this week.
(4)Andreozzi-Guinard
They finished the grass swing with a flourish, making the Eastbourne final and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Hard courts were not too kind to them outside of Indian Wells during the first hard court swing of the season. They scored five of their six wins on hard courts during that unexpected Indian Wells title run. Outside of that, they had three opening losses on this surface in four other tournaments. Getting a red hot Miedler-Polmans to start will be a challenge and one I really want to see.
DRAW PREVIEW
Click HERE for the doubles draw
TOP HALF
The defending champs kick off the first quarter with the top seeded Italians back together after Bolelli took a bit of time off after Wimbledon. They’ve been rock solid on hard courts this year at 11-4 with a big title in Miami along with three other semifinal finishes. The top seeds will see the debut of Erler-Cash in DC. This marks the first tournament post-split for Americans Cash-Tracy, who are both in this draw. It’s obviously a huge chang for Cash as his entire professional career and most of his collegiate career featured partnering with Tracy. Against a less well-rounded pair, perhaps they’d have some time to figure things out and hunt out a win. Here? That is a hard ask.
The match opposite of them pits Cash’s former partner along with his new partner with Cabral-Tracy battling singles pair Kyrgios-Tiafoe. We saw Kyrgios and Tiafoe at this tournament five years ago, so this isn’t entirely new. I think expect the usual loose atmosphere around a Kyrgios match and that makes it tough for an opponent to focus at times. Oddsmakers have Kyrgios-Tiafoe as hefty favorites, so it won’t be a surprise if they win. A quarterfinal featuring Bolelli-Vavassori and Kyrgios-Tiafoe SHOULD draw a ton of eyes, since this is what we are told makes doubles draws watchable. It’s been a while since the Italians faced an all-singles pair, so that would make this must-see for me.
The second quarter is led by (3)Cash-Glasspool. I already covered them in the One & Done Watch. The Brits just haven’t been as consistent as they were in 2025 during their true breakout season. They’re in a tough quarter with Bhambri-Venus up first. That’s a pair that has not been good of late with a 3-5 record dating back to their best run this year in winning the Geneva titles on clay in May. I still think they’ll be in this one and both their matches here last year went to super tie breaks. The survivor will see either Doumbia-Reboul or Romboli-Smith who survived qualifying to earn the last open spot in the draw. The surface switch did some good for them after they dropped two more on clay to run their clay record in 2026 to 1-6. Romboli-Smith had a competent year on hard courts in 2025, so this surface could give them an opportunity here. Doumbia-Reboul I like as sleepers in this quarter, but I will not be shocked at all if they have to earn this one in a super tie break. This quarter to me is pretty open given that Cash-Glasspool have been a bit more hit and miss in 2026
TOP HALF FORECAST
There will be a lot of interest in this half as long as Kyrgios-Tiafoe stay alive in the draw. Kyrgios is 2-3 in doubles this year, while Tiafoe is 0-1. Don’t mistake that for no chance in hell they do work in doubles as most of those losses were extremely tight. For me, not having Kyrgios playing singles makes them a little more dangerous, but you always have to keep in mind that Tiafoe could pull the eject button if he’s making a run in singles. I wouldn’t pencil in either seed to advance far here as the draws have several pitfalls for each. Bolelli-Vavassori may have a better set up, but we also are going to find out about two new pairings this week, so it’s a bit up-in-the-air. I think the second quarter is a real coin flip, but I’m going to stick with Doumbia-Reboul even though the path is tough.
SEMIFINAL PIX: (1)Bolelli-Vavassori vs Doumbia-Reboul
BOTTOM HALF
This third quarter is definitely my “Group of Death” for the week with four supremely talented teams that all could stake claim to eing contenders for the DC titles. (4)Andreozzi-Guinard are the seeds. They’re charged with cooling off Miedler-Polmans who are a perfect 8-0 in their newly formed partnership. That’s not a pair I want to face right now, even if it’s a surface switch for them after winning two titles on clay. The other match is equally banger-alertish with last year’s runners-up Nys/Roger-Vasselin set to fight Arribage-Olivetti for the spot in the quarters. This is an interesting one with the inconsistencies of Nys-ERV against the less appetizing results for Arribage-Olivetti at tournaments that are not 250s. They’ve lost twice in openers in eight hard court tournaments, while Nys-ERV lost half of their six openers on hard courts early in the season. I think the four pairs in this quarter could play ten times against each other with different results each time. I do think it’s that close.
The final quarter will have (2)Harrison-Skupski against one of the more interesting one-offs in DC. We’ve got a specialist in Diego Hidalgo paired up with singles star Ben Shelton. It’s not their first time together, but it has been three years since they last played. Shelton has made a habit of playing doubles on hard courts. He lost here to Ebden-Peers last year when teamed up with Tiafoe and he partnered Ivan Dodig back in 2024, losing in round one to Heliovaara-Patten. Does anything change this year? Harrison-Skupski may not have as many deep runs of late, but they have done well to avoid one and dones with seven straight tournaments seeing them avoid first round defeat. I think this one is going to be close, but the specialists may sneak it out. It’s Krajicek-Mektic battling Jodar-Nakashima in the other match in this quarter. Jodar only has five pro doubles matches (1-4) to his credit, but that one win came in Acapulco this year AGAINST … Krajicek-Mektic. Nakashima has normally been very competitive when he plays doubles with a 4-3 record in 2026. Don’t be surprised if these first timers pull off an upset.
BOTTOM HALF FORECAST
That “Group of Death” quarter means this half should be more unpredictable. It would be equally surprising to see the seeds advance through as it would be unsurprising to see both fall in their openers. I’m a staunch supporter of Andreozzi-Guinard, but that quarter is so, so competitive. I’m going with Miedler-Polmans until the wheels come off and that could be round one … or it could be never. Let’s find out together. The fourth quarter I’ll jam with the survivor of that Harrison-Skupski vs Hidalgo-Shelton match. I think the seeds just might edge it out and that could go a long way to carrying them through to at least a semifinal.
SEMIFINAL PIX: Miedler-Polmans vs (2)Harrison-Skupski
The North American hard court Summer opens in Washington, D.C. with spots 4-6 in the doubles live race all in action in Bolleli-Vavassori, Harrison-Skupski and Andreozzi-Guinard. Arribage-Olivetti also have a lot on the line as they cling to spot #8 entering this week. It’s feasible they could get caught by Doumbia-Reboul or they could grab a couple of wins and stretch their short lead out for some breathing room with big tournaments and points to come. As much as I love Bolelli-Vavassori, repeating in DC has proven to be very difficult. I will pass on the Italians.
Even though they arguably have a harsher route to a championship, I’m going with Harrison-Skupski as my top choice in DC. That’s saying a lot since they have astonishingly ONLY made one final in 2026, the Australian Open. Yes, that’s a fact. They’ve made three semifinals in the last couple of months, but have been unable to find that finals spot, so it is a risky proposition to think they’ll do it here. My other choice is certainly a long shot, but I’ll go with Doumbia-Reboul. I don’t know that they’ll get through the gauntlet in front of them, but they’re capable if they can keep those small margins of victory on their side.
This should be a fun kickoff to the Summer hard court season with plenty of twists and turns likely.
Harrison-Skupski
Doumbia-Reboul
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