Berdych, at a career-high No. 7 ranking, broke Stakhovsky three times and saved the only break point he faced.
The Czech will play either Mikhaiil Youzhny of Russia or Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine for a chance to match his best Rogers Cup result, the quarterfinals in 2006.
In first-round play, Viktor Troicki of Serbia upset Marin Cilic of Croatia, 6-4, 7-6 (2) for the first time in six matchups, and Fabio Fognini of Italy slowed down the comeback from a knee injury by Radek Stepanek, beating the Czech 6-2, 6-4.
On Monday, Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky provided the opening day fireworks with a 7-6, 6-4 upset over 13th seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in front of an appreciative home crowd.
With the opening night fireworks display delayed because of overcast conditions, it was up to the 22-year-old Polansky to deliver the excitement before handing center court over to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for a doubles match.
Polansky, ranked 207, delivered and became the first Canadian to beat a top 15 opponent on home court since 2003 when Simon Larose stunned Gustavo Kuerten.
“I had some good practice against top guys so I came out here today really believing I could beat this guy, and that’s what I did,” Polansky told reporters. “I’m just so happy the way I played. I stayed focused the whole match.”
Growing up near the tournament’s center court, there was no shortage of of support for Polansky as he recorded just his second career ATP Tour win.
But it was another letdown for Melzer as the loss marked the fourth consecutive time he has exited the tournament in the first round.
Russian 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny survived two lengthy rain delays and a traffic jam to outlast Frenchman Gilles Simon and advance with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The early match at the tournament began 30 minutes late with Simon caught in traffic, and it finished nearly eight hours later after rain twice interrupted play.
Down a set but up 4-1 in second when rain halted play a second time for five hours, Simon returned to the court and lost five straight games to end a dreary afternoon.
It was a bad day all around for the French contingent as Richard Gasquet, a former finalist in Canada, joined Simon at the exit after a 7-5, 6-1 loss to Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela advanced with tidy 6-0, 6-3 win over Colombian Alejandro Falla and earned a second-round meeting with world No. 3 and twice Canadian champion Roger Federer of Switzerland.
In Cincinnati, former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic showed flashes of the form that took her to the pinnacle of tennis as she upset ninth seed Victoria Azarenka 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.
Serb Ivanovic, a first-round casualty at San Diego last week, had appeared set for another early exit before rallying to beat the in-form Belarusian, who won the Stanford Classic earlier this month.
The 2008 French Open champion Ivanovic briefly held the world’s top ranking that year, but a subsequent collapse in form and a series of niggling injuries have seen her ranking slip to 62nd. The Serb was joined in the second round by another fallen former top-ranked player in Russia’s Dinara Safina, who eased to a 7-5, 6-4 win over Italy’s Roberta Vinci.
Safina was also forced to dig deep, rallying from 3-5 down in the opening set before closing out her fifth win against the Italian from five matches.
The 24-year-old, now ranked 35 and yet to make a semi-final this season after returning from a back injury that sidelined her for three months, will next face Belgian Kim Clijsters.
Israeli Shahar Peer advanced after Olga Govortsova of Belarus retired when trailing 6-3, 4-1, while France’s Marion Bartoli thrashed Spain’s Anabel Madinah Garrigues 6-4, 6-0.
Bartoli’s compatriot Aravane Rezai was not so fortunate, however, being dumped out by Serb qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
