Fresh from their victory at the Pacific Life Open, Martin Damm and Leander Paes took the first step towards becoming the new Stanford ATP Doubles Race leaders with a first-round win at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Monday.

The US Open champions won their sixth consecutive match with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over Spaniards David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo.

Paes-Damm are now only 17 points behind race leaders Mike and Bob Bryan.