The 38-year-old Swiss will face American Taylor Fritz (10th) for a place in the knockout rounds.
"It's a joy to be here... It wasn't easy. A first round, which is more on clay, you have to go get it. I was expecting a tough match and it took a lot of patience, I had to stay calm," Wawrinka said.
Monte-Carlo is the third tournament in the Masters 1000 category that has been the most successful since the beginning of his career with now 22 matches won (27 in Indian Wells and 24 in Rome), including a final against Roger Federer in 2014.
But he hasn't made it past the second round since 2017.
Winner of three Grand Slam tournaments and former world No. 3, Wawrinka is trying to regain his best level after two seasons marred by injuries.
It's over for Andy Murray, another veteran of the circuit (he will be 36 next month). The Scot, ranked 53rd in the world, was dominated by Australian Alex De Minaur (19th) 6-1, 6-3, Monday in the first round of the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo.
Andy Murray during his first-round loss of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 to Australia's Alex de Minaur on April 10, 2023 © Valery HACHE / AFP/Archives
As usual, the former N.1 in the ATP fought as much as he could but without managing to take more than four games from his opponent.
Three times semi-finalist on Monegasque clay (2009, 2011, 2016) and each time prevented from reaching the final by Rafael Nadal, Murray had not appeared there since 2017 when he was beaten in the eighth-finals by Albert Ramos.
For his part, De Minaur, who won the title in Acapulco in March, had yet to win a single Masters 1000 match this season after losing to Hungary's Marton Fucsovics and France's Quentin Halys at Indian Wells and Miami respectively.
In Monte-Carlo, he will face Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff (100th) to try to reach the knockout stages.
© 2023 AFP