The Serb, who lost against American Sam Querrey at the All England Club, claimed a 7-5, 7-6 win and will now go on to face Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek in the last-16.

"It's tough playing the first hard-court match since March," said Djokovic, a three-time champion in Canada.

"It was hot and that made the ball move very fast.

"It was hard to control, it was not easy to play.

"But I managed to stay tough."

Stepanek advanced to the third round thanks to a 7-6, 6-4 triumph against home favourite Peter Polansky at the Aviva Centre at York University.

Milos Raonic, Canada’s best hope for success, is also through after beating Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-3 in his first match since losing to Scotland’s Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final.

Number three seed Kei Nishikori of Japan was tested in his 6-4, 7-5 triumph over American Dennis Novikov, whose compatriot Querrey was forced to retire in the second set of his encounter with Belgium’s David Goffin when 6-4, 2-1 down.  

In the second round of the women’s draw in Montreal, Germany's Angelique Kerber beat Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Kerber is the highest-ranked player in the draw following the withdrawal of American Serena Williams and next goes up against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, a 7-6, 7-6 victor at the expense of Canada’s Francoise Abanda.

Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-1, 7-5, while Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard was impressive in defeating Slovakian 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-0. 

British number one Johanna Konta, who claimed her first WTA Tour title in California on Sunday (July 24), reached the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 win over American qualifier Vania King.