Two-time major champions Heliovaara & Patten begin pursuit of first Masters 1000 title

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten have partnered in winning two of the past three majors: the Australian Open and last year's Wimbledon. Now the Finnish-British pair is aiming for its first ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where on Thursday the second seeds overcame a stern first-round test from Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Heliovaara and Patten rallied to a 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-3 win after dropping just four points behind their first serve against the former No. 1 doubles players Krajicek and Ram. The current leaders in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Heliovaara and Patten fended off all six break points they faced in the second set to force a Match Tie-break and eventually keep their title hopes alive.

Sixth seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won contrasting sets to advance, defeating American wild cards Robert Cash and JJ Tracy 7-6(2), 6-0. Cash and Glasspool have collected two trophies already this season, triumphing in Brisbane and Doha.

Sander Gille and Jan Zielinski made a fast start to their Miami campaign by easing past Santiago Gonzalez and Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 6-2 in just 57 minutes. With their first tour-level win since reaching back-to-back finals in Rotterdam and Marseille in February, Gille and Zielinski are up to No. 9 in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

Into the second round, the Belgian-Polish duo will face seventh seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, who surged to a commanding 6-3, 6-3 victory against Alexander Erler and Constantin Frantzen. The Argentine duo won 91 per cent (30/33) of its first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in the 69-minute contest.