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Australians Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have lost their first-round doubles match at the Madrid Open after pairing for the first time since 2015.

Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic's doubles reunion at the Madrid Open has been short-lived after they lost their first-round match to countryman John Peers and Finland's Henri Kontinen.

The Australian duo's foray into the doubles event in the Spanish capital lasted less than an hour as the eighth-seeded pairing of Peers and Kontinen won 6-2 6-4.

Their clash was moved to centre court after three-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber was forced to withdraw from the event before her scheduled second-round match with an ankle injury.

Kyrgios and Tomic have previously played doubles together at the 2014 US Open and 2015 Shanghai Masters.

But they haven't teamed up for an ATP event since Tomic infamously accused Kyrgios of faking an illness to avoid playing in Australia's Davis Cup tie with the US in 2016.

World No.35 Kyrgios, who lost his claycourt season-opener in Madrid to Jan-Lennard Struff on Sunday, had earlier responded to criticism of officials handing the Aussie pair a wildcard over a more-established doubles team.

"Unfortunately sport is entertainment," he tweeted.