Third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury overcame a stern test Thursday from William Blumberg and Casper Ruud in the first round of the Miami Open presented by Itau.
Aiming for their fourth ATP Masters 1000 team title and first in Miami, the American-British duo clawed past the wild cards 7-6(5), 6-4 after winning 75 per cent of their first-serve points.
Play was paused for 15 minutes due to rain with Blumberg and Ruud leading 3-2 in the second set, but when action resumed, Ram and Salisbury held serve before earning their lone break of the match, eventually putting the finishing touches on the one-hour, 32-minute victory.
The two-time Nitto ATP Finals champions, who won in Adelaide this season, will next meet another wild card team, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who cruised past fellow singles players Alex de Minaur and Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-4.
Sebastian Korda and Andy Murray also advanced, defeating Julian Cash and Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-4 in 80 minutes.
One of the rallies of the day came during the second point of the second set, with all four players scrambling and covering every inch of the court to the oohh's and aahh's of the Miami crowd. Murray, who at one moment retrieved a backhand way outside the doubles alley, put an end to the exciting 16-ball rally by finding a precise angle off his forehand.
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