Kerber, who assured reclaiming the world number one ranking when the tournament ends thanks to Serena Williams' injury withdrawal, and bring us back to the run of poor fortune California desert, where he had not made it out of his tournament opener since 2011.
"Of course, so it was not easy to play against him, we know each other very long," said Kerber.
"I was trying today to focus more on my side of the tennis court. Just being focused on my game, because I think the last three years I lose here in the first round, so that there is something on my mind that I would like to change this year and just go through it."
Kerber next faces France's Pauline Parmentier, who brought 27-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3.
Women's fourth seed Simona Halep of Romania cruised through his opener, downing wild card Croatian Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-1.
Sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska beat Spain's Sara Sorribes 6-3, 6-4 and ninth-seeded American Madison Keys made a successful return to compete with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Colombian Mariana Duque.
Keys played his first match in 2017 after missing two months after left wrist surgery.
"It was really good," said Keys. "I really, really missed the competition and to be able to go out there and get the win on it is amazing."
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