Ram, Erlich reunite after two years apart, fall in Brisbane

Israeli duo begin gearing up for Australian Open.

By ALLON SINAI
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich’s first match back as full-time partners ended in disappointment on Wednesday, with the Israeli duo falling 7-6 (1), 6-2, to Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley in the first round of the Brisbane International.
After more than two years with other partners, Ram and Erlich will play together throughout 2011, with their next stop being Sydney, where they will play their final warm-up tournament before the Australian Open starts on January 17.
Meanwhile, defending champion Andy Roddick advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles tournament in Brisbane, hitting 15 aces to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6- 4, 6-1.
The second-seeded Roddick controlled the match with his powerful serve, landing 71 percent of his first serves and winning 87 percent of those points.
His barrage of aces helped victims of devastating flooding in Australia’s Queensland and New South Wales states after he pledged to donate $100 for every ace he serves at the Brisbane tournament.
Sam Stosur of Australia, the top-seeded women’s player, made the same pledge but was eliminated in the second round.
“A lot of the credit should go to Sam Stosur,” Roddick said. “It was her initiative. She came up with the idea and I was happy to follow her lead.”
AP contributed to this report.