Jamie Murray lost in the first round of the Miami Open, the win would have assured him of the world number one spot. Murray had already missed out once by getting knocked out in Indian Wells at the quarter final stage. However, due to Marcelo Melo's latter defeat, Murray will assume the world number one spot after the Miami Open.  

Indian Wells

Murray & Bruno Soares needed a win at the quarter final stage to hand the Brit the number one ranking after the current number one Marcelo Melo who was partnered with Ivan Dodig lost in the first round. The British/Brazilian pair knew that Murray could get the top ranking spot just by getting past the Spanish pairing of Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez.

Murray, normally good in these situations dropped serve in the opening game. However Feliciano Lopez was then broken whilst serving for the first set. Murray & Soares took the opportunity and dominated the ensuing tiebreak. The second set also went into a tiebreak, but the Brit/Brazilian pair made a bad start and were unable to recover, as the Spaniards levelled the match. A match tiebreak ensued and although Murray & Soares were leading by 5-3 the Spaniards fought back to spoil the party.

(Pic: bnpparibasopen.com)
(Pic: bnpparibasopen.com)

Miami

With Melo defending Semi final points, Murray just needed to win the first round to ensure the top spot in the doubles was his. Unless Melo reached the final the Brit was just the one win away from making history.

Murray & Soares faced a first round pairing of Rajeev Ram & Raven Klaasen, with the Brit/Brazilian pairing again knowing that the win would hand Murray the top spot. The second seeds got off to a great start as they sealed the first set 6-3 and were one set away from the older Murray brother making more British history. No Briton has been ranked number one in either singles or doubles since the official rankings began in 1975.

Ram & Klaasen spoil the party

After the great start by Murray & Soares, the Indian/South African pair were in a party spoiling mood, and had soon levelled the match taking the second set 6-3, once again it would be down to a match tiebreak to decide the number one ranking. A very tight final race to 10 points followed, with the lead changing time and again , until finally Ram & Klaasen took the match 10-7, leaving Murray once again falling short of the top spot.

(Pic: Australian Open)
(Pic: Australian Open)

Huey & Mirnyi step in

As mentioned before Melo was defending semi final points, so a second round win would take him one step closer to retaining the spot. Treat Huey & Max Miryni were the second round challengers for Melo & Dodig. Without question Murray supporters would have been throwing their support behind the Belarussian/Philipine pairing, as a loss for Melo & Dodig would hand Murray the number one ranking.

Huey & Miryni were forced to a first set tiebreaker, but dominated the tiebreak to take it 7-1, so once again, Murray was a set away and he wasn't even on the court. Huey & Miryni played really well, and secured the vital break in the second set taking the match in straight sets 7-6, 6-4. This victory handed Murray the top spot when the new rankings come out after Miami. 

(Pic: news.xinhuanet.com)
(Pic: news.xinhuanet.com)

Murray was not sure he would reach the top spot after Indian Wells & Miami exits, however once confrimed he was obviously delighted and posted on social media

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