Doubles Take: A “Sunshine Doubles Double” still in play; a new world No. 1; veterans making a charge

The Break: Serena reactions to Will Smith's slap at the Oscars

While the quarterfinal fields are set on both the ATP and WTA sides, the men’s top-ranked team isn’t among the duos to make it that far. Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the defending champions, have seen their title drought that started after last year’s Summer Olympics continue as they fell to Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov in the second round. The combination of the Croatians’ loss and Pavic’s consistent play over the past couple of years will result in Joe Salisbury taking over the top spot in the rankings.

Salisbury and his partner Rajeev Ram, the second seeds, next face John Isner and Hubert Hurkacz, both former Miami Open singles champs. Isner is currently going for the Indian Wells-Miami sweep, having won in the desert a couple of weeks ago with Jack Sock. Also lurking among the quarterfinalists are two of the biggest surprises this year: three-time title winners Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, and Australian Open champs Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios.

On the women’s side, the top-seeded team of Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens have bounced back from their early-round loss in Indian Wells with a couple of solid performances. Their run to this point includes their win against Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya, the team that beat them a couple of weeks ago.

Next up for Kudermetova and Mertens is the unseeded duo of Erin Routliffe and Alicja Rosolska, who just topped Asia Muhammad and Ena Shibahara, the finalists in Indian Wells. Their section of the draw also includes the fourth seeds, Coco Gauff and Caty McNally. The young Americans had to battle to get this far, surviving a slugfest against Alexa Guarachi and last week’s Indian Wells winner, Yifan Xu, in their last match.

The bottom half of the draw has several veteran pairs looking to make a charge. Playing in her farewell season, Sania Mirza has teamed up with Kirsten Flipkens, and the longtime doubles standouts will next face Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhaoxuan Yang.

The last quarterfinal matchup sees Sara Sorribes Tormo and Magda Linette taking on Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva, who’ve already won a tournament this year. Regardless of who battles through to the championship round, an unseeded team is guaranteed a spot in the final—just one of the plot points to look out for in the days ahead on South Beach.