Draw Preview: Defending Shanghai Champions Kubot/Melo Face Stacked Draw

Defending Rolex Shanghai Masters champions Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo will need to bring their best tennis if they want to prevail once again in the eighth ATP Masters 1000 event of the year. The second seeds start their week against Borna Coric/Runhao Hua and could face Russian duo Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev in the second round.

Top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah begin their campaign against Oliver Marach/Jurgen Melzer. The reigning Wimbledon (d. Mahut/Roger-Vasselin) and US Open (d. Granollers/Zeballos) champions have won 22 of their past 26 matches.

Third seeds Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos open against Radu Albot/Nikoloz Basilashvili and fourth seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus battle Wesley Koolhof/Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. Several Grand Slam-winning doubles pairings also headline the draw, including fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies, seventh seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau and Henri Kontinen/John Peers.

Novak Djokovic is among the top singles players who round out the doubles field. He teams with fellow Serbian Filip Krajinovic to face Krawietz/Mies opening-round action.

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