FP – Australians Matthew Ebden and Marinko Matosevic have recorded contrasting wins in the first round of the Indian Wells hardcourt ATP tennis tournament in California.

Ebden did it the tough way in downing Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3 4-6 6-4 on Friday while Matosevic scored an emphatic 7-5 6-2 victory over former world No.5 Tommy Robredo of Spain.

They join compatriots Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt in the second round of the tournament, where all of the 32 men’s and women’s seeds enjoy first-round byes.

Ebden next faces Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Matosevic will battle 14-seeded Argentinian Juan Monaco in round two.

In the women’s tournament, former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova survived 10 double faults to beat Olga Govortsova and reach the third round.

Kvitova needed two hours and 20 minutes to subdue Govortsova 6-4 3-6 6-3 on a blustery day in the California desert.

The hard-hitting Czech, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and arrived at Indian Wells fresh from a tournament triumph in Dubai, next faces Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, who downed Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1 3-6 6-1.

Sixth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy also reached the third round, beating Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2 3-6 6-3 while second seed Maria Sharapova launched her campaign with a crisp 6-2 6-1 victory over Francesca Schiavone.

Russia’s Sharapova, who won the title in 2006 and was runner-up to Victoria Azarenka last year, needed just 61 minutes to get past the former French Open champion from Italy.

Sharapova set up a third-round match against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, a 6-1 6-1 winner over compatriot Silvia Soler-Espinosa.