JAMIE Murray and John Peers are safely over the first hurdle in the men's doubles, and remain on course for a match with two players they know well, Colin Fleming and Eric Butorac.
Murray and his Australian playing partner beat the British pair Luke Bambridge and Liam Broady on Thursday, winning 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. Their next opponents are Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak, and the winners of that could play either Butorac and Fleming or the defending champions, Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock.
Normally the latter pair, who are the third seeds, would be favourites to win against the American and the Scot, but Sock fractured a finger in his singles defeat by Sam Groth. He intends to play - "fractured my finger during the match but going to battle in the dubs with my man Vasek Pospisil", he tweeted - but there are obvious doubts about his fitness.
"Colin and Eric have got a good chance," Murray said after his win. "I wouldn't be surprised if they beat them.
"It seems like Jack's broken his finger, so I don't know what his health's like. It's a tough match for both teams."
Although the second set of the match against Bambridge and Broady went the distance, Murray thought he and Peers were always in charge of the tie. "I think we were pretty comfortable," Murray said. "We had a good start, and although the second set got to the tiebreak, we were always up in it. We played a pretty good third set as well, so we're happy with how we performed."
Fleming and Butorac, who won their own first-round match on Wednesday, still expect Pospisil and Sock to be a tough proposition. But even if Sock is not unduly handicapped by his finger injury, Butorac is confident that their extra experience can at least give him and Fleming a chance of upsetting the odds.
"They're an explosive team," the 34-year-old American said of the champions. "But they're younger guys and can have momentary lapses of losing focus. I saw some of their first-round match and it wasn't comfortable for them. They struggled to get through it.
"I think tactically we're going to be more sound than they are. They obviously have a little more firepower and shot-making ability, but on grass courts over five sets I think we have a good chance to match up well."
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