Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American team-mate Rajeev Ram began their Australian Open men’s doubles campaign with a straight-set victory.
The third seeds, who have won four Grand Slams together, beat Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop and Brazilian Marcelo Melo 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 in Melbourne.
Britons Neal Skupski and Lloyd Glasspool also progressed alongside their respective partners.
But in the women’s draw Heather Watson and Maia Lumsden both lost.
Salisbury and Ram won a historic third consecutive US Open men’s doubles title together in September – a feat that had never been achieved in the Open Era.
Their other major success came at the 2020 Australian Open before they reached the final at Melbourne Park again the following year, but they exited the tournament in the third round in 2023.
Winners at the Adelaide International this month, they came through their opening match in straight sets after one hour and 40 minutes to set up a meeting with German Daniel Altmaier and Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.
Skupski and Mexican Santiago Gonzalez, the 11th seeds, won 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 against American Mackenzie McDonald and Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
Glasspool and Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer progressed with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 win against Dutch pair Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens.
In the women’s draw, Watson and Italian Lucia Bronzetti were beaten 6-3 6-3 by Chinese wildcards Wang Yafan and Yuan Yue.
Lumsden and Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova are also out after losing 6-4 6-3 against Australian wildcards Daria Saville and Ajla Tomljanovic.
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