The Swiss had lost his previous two meetings with his Russian opponent in Miami and New York, but he prevented a third successive defeat with a 7-6, 7-6 triumph.

Youzhny missed an opportunity to take the contest to a third set and despite forcing Wawrinka into errors on two match points, he was powerless to doing anything about the third.

Joining Wawrinka in the third round is fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, who came from behind to defeat Croatia’s Borna Coric 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the only other second-round encounter of the day.

In the opening round, France’s Gael Monfils claimed 6-3, 6-3 win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa in his first outing since defeating Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the final of the Citi Open in Washington D.C. on Sunday (July 24).

There was also a shock victory for Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu, the world number 70, who beat promising young talent Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-5, 6-3.

Zverev, the world number 25, is currently the youngest player in the top 50 of the ATP rankings.

In the first round of the women’s draw in Montreal, home favourite Eugenie Bouchard delighted the Canadian crowd with a dramatic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 success over Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova.

The world number 42 recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the third-set tiebreak to claim her first-ever win at the tournament at the third time of asking.

Third seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain pulled out of her second-round clash with Great Britain’s Naomi Broady after complaining of gastrointestinal illness moments before the contest was due to get underway.

The French Open champion’s place was taken by the United States’ Varvara Lepchenko, who overcame Broady 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The only other second-round match of the day saw fifth seed Simona Halep of Romania defeat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-2, 6-3.

The Rogers Cup is part of the ATP Masters Series and is the last major competition on the calendar before next month's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

A number of the game’s top players, including Wimbledon champions Andy Murray and Serena Williams, have opted not to compete at the event to concentrate on Rio 2016.