Australian pair Sam Stosur, Matt Ebden put Open demons to rest One down: Sam Stosur wins against Czech Klara Zakopalova at Melbourne Park on Monday - just days after losing to her in Hobart. Exhale. Then take another deep breath. Maybe two. The first-round win Sam Stosur needed was matched by Matt Ebden's first in the three years the West Australian has led higher-ranked opponents by two sets to love at Melbourne Park. Relief could well have been the unofficial theme of the host nation's unexpectedly successful day. First, Stosur. By maintaining her perfect 3-0 record against Klara Zakopalova in Australian Open first rounds, the 17th seed atoned, and then some, for a horrid 6-1, 6-3 loss to the same lower-ranked opponent in the Hobart semis on Friday. Winner: Matthew Ebden acknowledges the crowd after his win. What could have been a portent for more of the same old Melbourne Park misery was, in fact, the harbinger of more positive news. That is: a win, at her home slam, where any victory will do. There had been just one, total, in the two previous visits since her 2011 US Open success, when the spotlight was at its most intense, and Stosur's failure to handle it was so painfully apparent in her collapse from 5-2 up in the third set last year against Zheng Jie. Before that, it was Sorana Cirstea. Awful. "It's a really good feeling, obviously," Stosur said. To come out and play, play a pretty decent match, I'm very pleased. A bit of relief there as well. Very happy to get through and (to) obviously rectify what happened a few days ago is also very pleasing. This time, she was more patient, better on the serve and return. Playing her first grand slam match under new coach Miles Maclagan, Stosur used her slice effectively, kept calm, enough, didn't pull the trigger too early, on the whole. In helpfully hot and lively conditions, her winners-to-errors ratio was a solid 19:18 - lowish numbers by Stosur's adventurous, sometimes extravagant standards. The flat-hitting Zakopalova is deceptively powerful for her size, and caused particular damage with a forehand that was responsible for 16 of her 27 winners. When she started pushing the muscular Stosur around early in the second set, and Stosur berated herself for doing her own pushing - of the ball - some cracks were showing. "Sometimes you've got to let some frustration out," she said. I did feel like at times throughout that period I was kind of just putting it back in there. Even though I needed to be patient, you got to still be looking to have some intent with it. I felt like I'd kind of got away from that for those few points a couple of games. She was able to dictate and do what she wanted. But not permanently. Zakopalova's second serve is her great vulnerability, and Stosur duly clobbered it, but also had her own issues trying to hold, and the pair traded five breaks in the first six games of set two until the Queenslander's steadier in the seventh. In fact, from 4-1, she did not lose another game, with a crucial hold at 4-4 after saving a break chance with an ace. Only twice in 11 attempts has she reached the fourth round, and not since 2010. Sydney champion Tsvetana Pironkova will be next after she beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-2. Now: Ebden, the 26-year-old West Australian who had threatened to take sole possession of the crushed-Aussie-loser-from-a-winning-position role he shared with Stosur last year. In 2013, Ebden had the same advantage and a match point against world No.25 Mikhail Youhzny before falling in five sets. The year before, it was a similar lead blown against Kei Nishikori. This year's potential spoiler was veteran French ironman Nicolas Mahut, whom Ebden led 6-3, 7-5, before dropping the next two 6-4, 6-0. Ebden led 4-1 in the fifth, only to wobble as Mahut broke back for 4-3. But, he rallied, steadied, prevailed, and will next play Canadian 28th seed Vasek Pospisil, who defeated Australian Sam Groth 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. How important? Very. A good record in weak late-season Challenger events is one thing, but some serious results at the majors are what every player seeks, and the first Australian men's winner equalled his best grand slam result (s) from 2012. No story mentioning Mahut can fail to include a reference to that 2010 Wimbledon marathon against John Isner, but this one Ebden finished most strongly, despite his recent training being limited by an ankle injury. The last couple of years, I nearly had some big wins a couple of times, so didn't want that to happen again. I'm just so happy I got through," said Ebden, the world No.67, who admitted he had drawn inspiration from his five-set Davis Cup doubles experience with Lleyton Hewitt in Uzbekistan last year. "It wasn't so much what he told me as what she showed me," said Ebden. We were in the fifth. (Hewitt) lifted to another gear, started to get really pumped up. In the past when I've gotten into the fifth, I've been a bit hanging my head a little bit, being negative, not feeling so great because I've been up and then the guys have came back on me. Not this time. A weight lifted, then. A couple.