Bryans Too Strong For American Wild Cards

© Getty ImagesJamie Murray and Xavier Malisse opened with a win on Sunday.

World No.1 duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan overwhelmed American wild cards Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock 6-1, 6-0 Sunday afternoon in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open. The 10-time major champions converted five of 12 break point chances and won 82 per cent of their service points to clinch the victory in a blistering 39 minutes. Up next for the twins are Oliver Marach and Janko Tipsarevic, a match scheduled on Court 2 Monday.

No. 3 seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, who finished runner-up to the Bryans at the Australian Open, coasted against Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer, winning 6-2, 6-3. With the win, the Indian pair moved to 12-3 on the year and face Spaniards Marc Lopez and David Marrero in the second round.

In addition to the No.1 and No. 3 seeds, two other seeded teams advanced in first-round action. No. 6 Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic recovered after losing the first set to get past the Argentine duo of Juan Ignacio Chela and Juan Monaco 3-6, 6-1, 10-4, while No. 8 Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau sailed past 2007 US Open champions Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle 6-2, 6-2.

Xavier Malisse and Jamie Murray were also first-round winners Sunday, edging Yen-Hsun Lu and Florian Mayer in two tight sets, 7-6(1), 6-4. They’ll now play Llodra and Zimonjic.

The Israeli tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated tall Croatian combination Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 7-6(5) to earn a place in the quarter-finals. The 2008 Australian Open winners achieved their best result here in 2006, when they reached the semi-finals, and can equal that performance if they win their next match; they’ll play No. 4 seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner or Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley.

On the women’s side, defending Miami champions and No. 1 seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta were hardly troubled in their second-round match, defeating Julia Goerges and Lisa Raymond 6-2, 6-4. The Argentine-Italian team broke Goerges and Raymond three times in each set to help their cause. Awaiting the top-ranked partnership in the quarter-finals are Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.

Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, seeded third, were tested early on by Su-Wei Hsieh and Monica Niculescu, but took control of the second-round match to win 7-5, 6-2. Huber and Petrova are both previous winners of this event; Huber won in 2003 partnering Magdalena Maleeva and Petrova followed suit in 2004 with Meghann Shaughnessy. Up next for Huber and Petrova in the quarter-finals are No. 7 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy, or Sloane Stephens and Yanina Wickmayer.

The only doubles upset of the day came at the hands of wild cards Ana Ivanovic and Andrea Petkovic. The Serbian-German pair won a three-set contest over No. 6 seeds Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 5-7, 10-6. Ivanovic and Petkovic advanced to the quarter-finals and will play the winner of a second-round match tomorrow between Alisa Kleybanova and Zi Yan, and Shahar Peer and Peng Shuai.

Sana Mirza and Elena Vesnina were unable to ride their recent title success at Indian Wells, falling to Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round. The Slovakian-Polish team won 6-4, 6-3 and face Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja for a semi-final berth.