Herbert/Mahut Headline Strong Doubles Field
Top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will face Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof in their opening match at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
The 2016 winners, who completed the Career Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open, own a 5-2 record at the opening ATP Masters 1000 event of the European clay swing. Acapulco titlists Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev also feature in the opening section of the draw, but will need to get past 2017 semi-finalists Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys of Monaco if they are to reach the second round.
Also partnering his brother is World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who will join forces with Marko Djokovic against fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. In the same section of the draw, last year’s finalists Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic will be hoping to go one step further in the Principality this year. The fifth seeds face Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff.
Third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who fell to Herbert and Mahut in the 2016 championship match, headline the second quarter of the draw. The British-Brazilian tandem will be aiming to secure their second trophy of the season after success at the Sydney International (d. Cabal/Farah). In a blockbuster first-round clash, Australian Open finalists Henri Kontinen and John Peers will open their campaign against Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka.
In the final section of the draw, the top three players in the ATP Race To Milan will look to make their mark in Monaco. Canadian duo Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov will face Jurgen Melzer and Dominic Thiem in the first round, while Stefanos Tsitsipas and partner Matwe Middelkoop await seventh seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor.
In their third straight appearance at the event, Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo will be aiming to advance beyond the quarter-finals for the first time. The second seeds open against Spanish pairing Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez.