The three-time Grand Slam winner, who claimed the Flushing Meadows crown two months ago, overcame local wildcard Marco Chiudinelli 6-7 (1/7), 6-1, 6-4 in a struggle lasting two and a half hours.
He needed five match points to reach the second round, clinching victory with a 16th ace in a match where he struck more than 35 unforced errors.
Wawrinka had lost at the last four Basel editions in the first round; he has never passed the semifinals in a dozen previous appearances.
While Wawrinka squeezed through, a pair of seeds made opening exits at an event missing both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal through injury.
Lithuanian qualifier Richard Berankis stunned second seed Milos Raonic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, while Luxembourg's Gilles Muller beat sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (9/11), 6-4, 6-4.
Wawrinka admitted he was relieved to have sneaked past Chiudinelli, an ATP journeyman ranked 119 and childhood friend of fellow Basel native Federer.
“It was a tough physical and mental battle,” Wawrinka said. “It was a huge fight with Marco, he was playing at home and had the crowd on his side.
“It was so tough to beat him here. He played great and I had to fight, I needed to work hard to find a winning solution.
“The third set was so tight, I'm just very content to get past the first round. I'll prepare for Thursday and hope to go further in the tournament. The most important thing was to win this match.”
Berankis scored a second career victory over Raonic, who is qualified for next month's eight-man season finale in London.
“Playing the qualifying rally helped me for sure,” said Berankis, ranked 91 in the world. “My recent results have not been the best.
“I was worried about dropping from the top 100, which would have meant no direct entry to the Australian Open.
“But I got some confidence from qualifying, that's good when you step on to the court against a top five player. I'm really happy with how I performed today.”
Muller unleashed 17 aces against Dimitrov, produced 44 winners and broke three times against in his upset win over Dimitrov, the world-ranked 18 from Bulgaria.
Muller, 37th in the world, pulled ahead of Dimitrov 3-2 in their career series as he avenged a January semi-final loss in Sydney.
In other matches, Marcel Granollers beat Swiss Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, Italy's Paolo Lorenzi put out Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) and German Florian Mayer defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4.
TENNIS
Wawrinka snubs past form to reach Basel second round
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka ended a four-match Swiss Indoors losing streak on Tuesday as he saved face for seeds on a day of first-round upsets.
ROGER FEDERER
Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?
Roger Federer is talking optimistically about returning to his "highest level" after knee surgery, but does tennis have to start adjusting to a future without the Swiss star?
The 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Wednesday that he would be sidelined until 2021 after his second operation in a matter of months.
Federer remains upbeat, tweeting: “I plan to take the necessary time to be 100 percent ready to play at my highest level.”
In some ways 2020 is a good season to miss after the coronavirus ravaged the tennis schedule. Writing Federer off in the past has proved dangerous.
He returned from a six-month injury lay-off to claim the Australian Open in 2017, winning his eighth Wimbledon crown later that year.
But he will be 40 in 2021 and is now heading into uncharted territory.
Despite his groaning trophy cabinet, there are two factors that will motivate Federer to keep going — the risk of losing his grip on the men's Grand Slam title record and a missing Olympics singles gold medal.
Rafael Nadal has 19 majors, just one shy of Federer's mark and Djokovic has 17.
Spain's Nadal will be fancied to draw level with Federer at the French Open, rescheduled for September, while few would bet against Djokovic winning in New York weeks earlier.
In April, Federer said he was “devastated” when Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II. Last year he fell agonisingly short at the All England Club, failing to convert two championship points on his own serve against Djokovic.
The Wimbledon grass probably remains his best chance of adding to his Grand Slam collection — he has not won the US Open since 2008 and his only title at Roland Garros came in 2009.
Even though Federer has slipped from the very pinnacle of the game, he is still a major threat to Nadal and Djokovic.
'Golden' ambitions
Last year, the world number four had a 53-10 win-loss record and he reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January in his only tournament this year.
Federer, who is still six ATP titles short of Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 109, has one glaring omission from his CV — the Olympic title.
The Swiss won doubles gold in Beijing in 2008 with compatriot Stan Wawrinka but lost in the singles final to Andy Murray in London four years later.
The postponed Tokyo Games will almost certainly be Federer's last opportunity to complete a career “golden” Grand Slam — he will turn 40 on the day of the closing ceremony next year.
Tennis will feel the loss of the elegant Federer keenly when he walks off the court for the last time.
Djokovic and Nadal have been the dominant forces in recent years but the Swiss remains the biggest draw and last month topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-earning athletes.
His last appearance on court was in front of nearly 52,000 fans — touted by organisers as a world record for tennis — at a charity match against Nadal in Cape Town in February.
Federer is nearly always the crowd favourite wherever he plays and has proved a perfect ambassador for the sport since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2003.
He certainly expects to be back and competitive next year.
“I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season,” he tweeted.
The avalanche of support from his adoring fans showed they would miss him too, but they will have to get used to a time when he is gone for good.
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