Israel's pair were seeded seventh in the tournament and considered firm favorites to make it to the later stages.
By SHARON SOLOMONRam erlich 298 88(photo credit: Courtesy)
Andy Ram and Yonatan Erlich have bowed out of the prestigious Sony Ericsson doubles event in Miami.
Israel's top doubles pair, currently ranked sixth in the world, suffered a disapointing 4-6 4-6 loss to Simon Aspelin and Chris Haggard.
Israel's pair were seeded seventh in the tournament and considered firm favorites to make it to the later stages, but failed to deliver.
Aspelin (Sweden) and Haggard (South Africa), ranked only 24th in the ATP doubles race, pulled off the surprise win in just 73 minutes.
The Israeli duo failed to impress in the first set, enabling the challenging pair to prevail 6-4.
The second set was closely contested until the 9th game, when the Ram and Erlich were broken yet again. Aspelin and Haggard served out the game with ease.
Shahar Peer, 16th in the world and seeded 14th in the event, was scheduled to face Catalina Castano in a late night game. The unseeded Colombian, currently ranked 76th in the WTA race, beat Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 7-5 in her first round tie.
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