Andreozzi and Guinard Seize Indian Wells Doubles Glory
In a match pulsing with family ties and fresh ambition, Guido Andreozzi and Manuel Guinard outlasted cousins Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot to claim their first team title at the BNP Paribas Open, turning desert pressure into a hard-court breakthrough.
Under the glaring lights of Stadium 1 at Indian Wells, Guido Andreozzi and Manuel Guinard etched their names into the BNP Paribas Open history. The Argentine-French pair, partnering since their unsteady debut at the US Open in 2025, overcame a slew of top teams to reach the final. There, they faced cousins Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot, dispatching them 7-6(3), 6-3 in a 83-minute battle that tested every ounce of their evolving synergy.
Their path to the crown included straight-set victories over fourth seeds Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski, followed by a gritty upset of top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. Andreozzi’s heavy topspin forehands set up Guinard’s crosscourt backhands, disrupting opponents’ rhythms on the sun-baked hard courts. As the final unfolded, the duo’s adjustments shone through, blending baseline depth with timely net rushes.
“I am so happy to be able to win here,” Andreozzi said. “it’s an amazing tournament, a really big one. I am so proud of the work with Manu and this journey since August of last year.”
Regrouping amid first-set tension
Dropping serve while leading 5-4 in the opener could have unraveled them, but Andreozzi and Guinard steadied against the cousins’ aggressive returns. At 5-6 on 40/40, they erased a set point when Vacherot‘s backhand sliced wide off a second serve, flipping the momentum. From that clutch save, they dominated the tiebreak with inside-in forehands, saving four of five break points overall to take the first set.
The second set flowed smoother, as their one–two pattern—serve followed by down-the-line passes—broke Rinderknech at 3-all. Guinard’s underspin slices neutralized Vacherot’s net approaches, while Andreozzi poached effectively on the hard court’s quicker pace. The crowd’s murmurs built to cheers as the underdogs controlled the tempo, their preparation paying off in the desert heat.
“I knew it was going to be a dangerous match,” Guinard added. “We prepared for the match as well as we could and tried to manage the pressure because it was a first one [together]. it’s not like every week we play an ATP Masters 1000 final, so really happy with the work we have done together.”
Cousins chase another Masters miracle
Rinderknech and Vacherot entered chasing echoes of their 2025 Shanghai Masters run, where Vacherot became the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion at World No. 204 after upsets over five seeded singles players. Their Indian Wells campaign dazzled, toppling ad-hoc pairs like Daniil Medvedev and Learner Tien, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev, plus specialists Andre Goransson and Yuki Bhambri. The Texas A&M alumni relied on college-forged teamwork, poaching returns and varying depths to unsettle power serves.
Yet in the final, the psychological edge tilted toward Andreozzi and Guinard, whose tactical tweaks countered the cousins’ flat groundstrokes. Guinard now holds two Masters titles, his Indian Wells win following a 2025 triumph at the Monte-Carlo Masters alongside Romain Arneodo. Andreozzi improves to 4-1 in tour-level finals, building on ATP 250 clay victories in Umag (2024), Buenos Aires (2025), and Bastad (2025).
Breakthrough sets stage for clay pursuits
This victory transforms a partnership once marked by debut jitters into a force on the tour. From the US Open‘s slower hard courts to Indian Wells’ grippy acrylic, they adapted spins and patterns to exploit surface speed, gaining rankings boosts and confidence. As the schedule turns toward clay, expect Andreozzi and Guinard to carry this momentum, their blend of experience and chemistry promising deeper runs amid the tour’s unpredictability.
