Held annually in the middle of April, the Barcelona Open officially starts in proper clay court preparations for the looming French Open. Below we are having a detailed look at the doubles tournament that promises to be as exciting and hotly contested as the singles one. Let’s start our preview with the main contenders for this year’s event.
Barcelona 2023 Doubles Main Contenders
1. Koolhof/Skupski
The number 1 seed and world number 1 Dutch/British duo Koolhof/Skupski come into the competition with a chip on their shoulders. Last year they suffered a dramatic defeat in the final against Mies/Krawietz when they lost the long tiebreak 6-10.
Koolhof/Skupski are doubles specialists, an accomplished pair and certainly one of the top favourites to lift the trophy.
2. Ram/Salisbury (Eliminated Quarterfinals)
The number 2 seed are another professional all-doubles pair. The American/British duo Ram/Salisbury will certainly fancy their chances. They have been mostly consistent so far in 2023 with 2 titles already. However, they failed to perform in the Australian Open and 2 other tournaments where they were tipped to win it all. It seems for some inexplicable reason the vastly experienced duo are not enjoying their tennis much when put under the spotlights and seen as big favourites.
This was proven again in Barcelona with Ram/Salisbury crashing out of the tournament as early as the quarterfinals after a straight set defeat.
3. Arevalo/Rojer (Eliminated 1st Round)
The number 3 seed Arevalo/Rojer are an interesting duo that we predict will do very well. This Honduran/Dutch pair specialises mainly on clay courts and they always achieve good results at this time of the year when the tour gets on their favourite surface. The draw has also been kind to them this year and yet they crashed out in round 1 after very poor showing.
4. Mektic/Pavic (Eliminated 1st Round)
The all-Croatian duo Mektic/Pavic are the last of the 4 seeded pairs. They moved up the rankings in 2023 after reaching 3 quarterfinals and lifting one trophy. Mektic, in particular, has extremely good volleying skills and they are expected to do well all season. We predicted the Croats could have trouble in round 1 and so they as they were eliminated from the Barcelona Open Doubles competition at the first hurdle.
Barcelona 2023 Doubles Draws
The draw was made and play for the Barcelona Open 2023 Doubles will begin on Monday, 17th of April with 2 matchups. The majority of the round 1 matches will be on Tuesday.
Draw Brackets
The Barcelona Open Doubles begin directly from round 16. The top Bracket of the draw sees the pre-tournament favourites Koolhof/Skupski open their run with a seemingly easy duel against the wildcard duo Bolleli/Granolers. However, the peculiarity of the draw could make it for a juicy round 2 clash for Koolhof/Skupski. There they could get a chance for revenge against the last year’s champion Andreas Mies. The German is no longer partnered with Krawietz, so that is why he is unseeded. However, his new Dutch partner Middelkoop is a solid player. In any case, a matchup with 3 of last year’s 4 finalists promises to be an exciting fixture to potentially look forward to.
In the bottom half of the draw, the 2nd seed Ram/Salisbury have 2 tough opening rounds to worry about. They start with a matchup against the dangerous Dodig/Krajicek. If they make it to the quarterfinals a tricky opponent is promised there too.
The 3rd seed Arevalo/Rojer have probably the easiest draw in the first 2 rounds, so we expect them to reach at least the semifinals.
After focusing on the 4 seeded pairs let’s have a quick look at the others. We actually fancy at least one unseeded duo to make it to the final as some interesting and accomplished names enter Barcelona Open 2023 Doubles competition.
We already touched that the defending champion Mies is not seeded because he has a new partner. Another pair we think needs looking at is the Stefanos Tsitsipas partnership with the experienced Frenchman Mahut. There is also a great buzz around the newly formed partnership between 2 top 25 players in singles – De Minaur and Sinner. Both are excellent tennis players on their own part and it’s exciting to see if this duo can work well together too.
Barcelona Open 2023 Doubles Summary
Semifinals review
The quarterfinals of the Barcelona 2023 Doubles competition produced one major upset and nearly saw the defending champions crash out too.
The world number 1 Koolhof/Skupski reached the Barcelona Open Doubles final for a second consecutive year after edging Bopanna/Ebden 6-4, 7-5. Both sets were close and mainly the greater experience of the highest-ranked pair out there helped them to earn decisive breaks when they needed them most. Koolhof played particularly well at the net in this game. He also served very well and never allowed any breakpoints on his serve.
The other finalists are the greatest surprise of the tournament. The all-Argentinian qualifiers Gonzalez/Molteni beat Glasspool/Heliovaara 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 to reach their first-ever Doubles final in over a year. The Argentinians have been playing excellent tennis all week and this set they dropped in the semis is the first they lost all tournament. The 35-year-old Molteni and the 39-year-old Gonzalez seem to have found a way to roll back the years this week and both looked bouncy and full of energy in the matches so far.
Final Preview
With only one more game left to be played, it’s time to look at both pair’s chances ahead of the match for the title.
The 1st seed Koolhof/Skupski will be determined to avoid the upset from last year, back in 2022 they again reached the Barcelona Open Doubles final but there lost to an unseeded all-German pair. Hungry to lift the trophy this time around we expect the favourites to impose a fast pace and their superior volleying skills on their opponents.
The qualifiers Gonzalez/Molteni have nothing to lose though and they have looked really impressive so far. Despite not being in many finals in recent years the Argentinian veterans have plenty of experience and at the combined age of 74, they are trying to become the oldest pair to ever win the Barcelona Open.
As much as everyone likes an underdog we simply think the world number 1 Koolhof/Skupski will have too much class and win this match. We backed them at the start of the tournament to go all the way and we haven’t changed our minds. The bookies certainly think this will be the case with their odds to become champions only 4/9 (1.44).
Barcelona 2023 Doubles Predictions
We back the world number 1 Koolhof/Skupski to win the title they so narrowly missed last year. They are 11/10 (2.10) Outright favourites for the trophy at the start of play, so clearly the bookies fancy them too. The duo had been enjoying yet another solid year on the tour and they continue to dominate the doubles scene. They looked all business in recent appearances.
Among the other seeded pairs, we see Arevalo/Rojer emerging as the potential finalists from the bottom half. That said, the Barcelona Open Doubles is never a straightforward thing with many of those doubles that do well on hard surfaces struggling on the clay. Also, there are some very strong unseeded duos that enter the competition this year and it will be curious to see if any of them could cause an upset.
We personally suggest keeping a close eye on the round 1 matchup between the 4th seed Mektic/Pavic and Bopanna/Ebden. At 17/10 (2.70) for the win Bopanna/Ebden might be a surprise worth considering as the Indian half of that pair really thrives on clay.
Play is about to begin in the Barcelona Open Doubles. Sit and enjoy and make sure you come back as we will keep updating you with the freshest news from the tournament. Here’s how to watch all the action.
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