Ram & Erlich string together two wins

Pair advances to quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

By ALLON SINAI
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich recorded consecutive victories for the first time this year on Sunday, beating Croatians Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 7-6 (5) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Ram and Erlich, who returned to playing together on a full time basis at the start of 2011 after two years apart, had won just three of their first 10 matches of the season, failing to claim more than one victory in any single tournament.
However, a first round win over No. 5 seeds Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg was followed by another straight-set triumph over Cilic and Ljubicic and will give the Israeli duo some much needed confidence after a disappointing start to the year.
Ram and Erlich will next face the winners of the second round match between Paul Hanley and Lukas Dlouhy and Jurgen Melzer and Phillip Petzschner.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic improved to 20-0 in 2011, thrashing James Blake 6-2, 6-0 in the third round.
Djokovic’s winning streak to start the season is the longest since Ivan Lendl began 1986 with 25 straight wins.
One player who is enjoying far less success in recent months is Andy Murray.
The Brit made an impressive run to the final of the Australian Open where he lost to Djokovic, but he has not won a set in three tournaments since.
Murray suffered a shock 6-1 7-5 loss to American qualifier Alex Bogomolov in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open, continuing his miserable start to the United States hardcourt season.
The world number five, who was ousted by American qualifier Donald Young in the second round at Indian Wells earlier this month, looked badly out of sorts at Key Biscayne against Moscow-born Bogomolov, who is ranked 118th in the world.

Reuters contributed to this report.