Ram, Erlich to continue match today; Pe’er advances

Wimbledon match will resume after rain forced a late start to the encounter and darkness halted play; Pe'er bounces back from first round exit.

By ALLON SINAI
andy ram yoni erlich 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
andy ram yoni erlich 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
LONDON – Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich’s first-round match at Wimbledon against Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Ivo Karlovic will resume on Friday with the Israelis trailing one set to love after rain forced a late start to the encounter before darkness halted play for the day.
The Israeli duo recorded the first break of the match in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but couldn’t consolidate it in the subsequent game and trailed throughout the tiebreak on their way to dropping the first set 7-6 (2).
Should Ram and Erlich come back from behind to claim a win on Friday they will face either No. 1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan or Maximo Gonzalez and Potito Starace in the second round.
Earlier Thursday, Shahar Pe’er bounced back from her crushing first round exit in the singles tournament with a straight-set victory in the doubles event with Cara Black.
The Israeli/Zimbabwean duo, seeded No. 14 at the All England Club, beat the British team of Sarah Borwell and Melanie South 6-3, 6-3 and will next play the winner of the match between Johanna Larsson and Jasmin Woehr and Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.
Pe’er, who missed out on the doubles event at Roland Garros – the first time in her career she has not played in a Grand Slam doubles tournament when being physically fit – will be confident of making significant progress on the London grass together with Black, a threetime Wimbledon champion.