Mardy Fish overcame a rocky start to continue his winning streak on the Coral Beach centre court yesterday.

Fish picked up a cool $52,000 claiming the US Men?s Claycourt Championships in Houston on Sunday and moved into the XL Open second round yesterday with a three-set triumph over fellow American wildcard Jesse Witten.

The former world number 17, fighting his way back from injury, made heavy work of the first set in the opening match of the day on centre court, losing the first set 7-5 ? with the added ignominy of a point violation after hitting the ball onto South Road and then abusing the chair umpire.

But his powerful, clinical game returned quickly and Witten could do little as Fish powered to a 6-3 second set win before wrapping it up 6-1 in the decider.

?It?s good to be winning again,? said Fish, on the comeback trail after two wrist surgeries and targeting a place in the Wimbledon main draw in June.

?Slow clay is not really my surface but I need the points here and my confidence is up again after winning in Houston.

?It was a strange tournament to win after two withdrawals but it was a big one for me.

?It?s a long road back to the top but the wildcards help ? they were designed for exactly this situation, players trying to get back up to the top.?

Fish will now take on ?good friend? Mark Philippoussis in the next round ? a match that organisers would have preferred to see on the tournament?s final day.

?It would make a good final,? smiled Fish.

?He is obviously one of the best players here and I?d like to think I?m among them too, these things can happen in draws and it should make for a good game even if it is a little early in the tournament.? Fish has triumphed in their two previous encounters, both of which went to three sets.

In other games, Austrian eighth seed Oliver Marach successfully negotiated a spot in the second round against lucky loser Frank Moser, disposing of Greek Vasilis Mazarakis 6-0, 7-5 in the first rain-delayed game on Court Seven.

Kevin Kim, a first round loser as number one seed last year, also bowed out at the first opportunity, going down in a third set tie-break to fellow American Zach Fleishman. The former world number 63 was beaten 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-7 (5).

Former XL semi-finalist Harel Levy made it out of qualifying but was stopped in the opening round by American Tyler Cleveland 7-6 (5), 6-3, here on a special exemption after reaching the semi-final of a tournament in California last week.