Nick Kyrgios made a successful return from a back injury on Friday, knocking off Denis Kudla 6-4 7-5 in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

The up-and-coming Australian teenager, who is ranked 37th in the world, had not appeared on the ATP Tour since his quarter-final loss to Andy Murray at the Australian Open in January, but Kyrgios needed just over an hour to reach the second round.

Kyrgios won in 69 minutes in Indian Wells, hitting 11 aces to set up a clash with 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov.

All seeded players are given a bye through the first round at the ATP 1000 event.

"Happy with that tonight, great to win my first match at BNP Paribas Open and get back in the swing of things," Kyrgios wrote on Twitter after the win.

"Looking forward to Sunday."

Kyrgios claimed the only break of serve in the opening set to lead 5-4 and then won his service game to love.

The 19-year-old again left it late to break Kudla in the second set, breaking the world number 131 to love in the 11th game and then wrapping up the contest on his second set point in the next game.

It was a good day for Ukraine in California with Alexandr Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky both progressing.

Dolgopolov was the first on court at Stadium Two and he needed just 68 minutes to cruise past Frank Dancevic 6-2 7-5, with the world number 41 hitting 28 winners and seven aces in his victory.

Stakhovsky recovered from dropping the first set against Sam Querrey to triumph 2-6 6-4 6-2 to set up a clash with ninth seed Tomas Berdych.

Second seed Roger Federer will face Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in the second round after the latter defeated Jerzy Janowicz 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-3), while third seed Rafael Nadal is set to play Igor Sijsling, who overcame Filip Krajinovic 6-4 3-6 6-2.

American trio Donald Young, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock all reached the second round.

Young defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4, Johnson won 6-2 6-3 against Marcel Granollers and Sock edged past Lu Yen-Hsun 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 7-5.

Other first-round winners on Friday were Denis Istomin, Robin Haase, Victor Hanescu, Malek Jaziri, Andrey Golubev, Simone Bolelli, Martin Klizan and Michael Berrer.