Lleyton Hewitt has beaten countryman Matthew Ebden in three sets to reach the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.

Hewitt, who won back-to-back titles in the Californian desert back in 2002-03, booked a date with big-serving South African Kevin Anderson with a 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 victory on Thursday.

Earlier, Fellow Australians Sam Groth and John-Patrick Smith clinched spots alongside Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic in the main draw with final-round qualifying wins.

Groth plundered 18 aces in his 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 defeat of Russian Evgeny Donskoy to earn his place in the $US12 million ($A13.25 million) men’s and women’s tournament, while Smith downed Slovak Andrej Martin 6-3 7-5.

But Olivia Rogowska lost her first-round match in the women’s event 6-0 7-5 to Croatian Donna Vekic.