Australians Matthew Ebden and Marinko Matosevic scored first-round wins on Tuesday at the Los Angeles tennis open.

Sixth-seeded Matosevic downed compatriot and qualifier Chris Guccione 3-6 6-3 6-3, while Ebden fought back from a set down to edge German Michael Berrer 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

World No.81 Matosevic will play German No.108 Tobias Kamke, who defeated American veteran James Blake 6-2 5-7 7-6 (7-4).

Ebden next faces fifth-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse, who snapped a racquet over his knee in a fit of anger during his win over American Nicolas Meister.

Malisse’s win ended a four-match first-round losing streak at the tournament as he beat recent UCLA graduate Meister 6-4 6-1 to advance to the second round.

Meister was the lowest-ranked player in the qualifying field at 625 and was playing in his first ATP main draw event.

The 32-year-old Malisse, who is ranked 72nd in the world, made a quick start in the opening set but then became bogged down as the challenger started to threaten.

Malisse had a minor meltdown after dropping serve in the eighth game of the opener as Meister broke with a lob to reach 4-4.

But the European veteran recovered in a marathon ninth game, breaking back on a fifth break point from his opponent’s backhand error.

Malisse re-established his serve, taking the set 6-4 after 59 minutes.

He ran away with the second as his game started to click, clinching the set on his first match point from a Meister backhand mistake.

“In the first set, I was trying to find my game,” said Malisse, who lost in the Atlanta first round last week after a Wimbledon fourth-round showing.

American Michael Russell earned a second-round place as he beat compatriot Jesse Levine 6-3 6-4 while Russian Igor Andreev put out Israeli Dudi Sela 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.