TORONTO - Canadian Stephanie Dubois is through to the second round of the Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament after a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over German qualifier Kathrin Woerle on Tuesday.

The wildcard entry from Laval, Que., battled through a hard first set before taking control in the second. She used a vicious backhand slice to break Woerle for a 3-0 lead in the second.

Woerle put up resistance when down 4-0, fighting back to deuce several times and causing Dubois to smash her racket against the court surface in frustration before losing the game.

However, Dubois regained her composure to close out the match and book a meeting with fourth-seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Earlier, Eugenie Bouchard made a quick exit in her debut at the tournament.

The 17-year-old wildcard from Westmount, Que., lost 6-2, 6-2 to 10th-seeded German Andrea Petkovic after a rain delay of almost three-and-a-half hours.

The match was originally scheduled to open morning action on centre court but rain forced the lengthy delay on the second day of the main draw.

Play finally began later in the afternoon at Rexall Centre, with sunshine breaking through early in the match just as Bouchard earned the service break to tie the first set 2-2.

But the 10th-ranked Petkovic showed her class from that point on. After recording a break of her own, Petkovic held serve for a 4-2 lead and never really looked back.

"I've learned a lot from this match, it's good for the future," said Bouchard, who is ranked 351st in the world. "She's 10 in the world, so I know I've played against (a player who is) where I want to go. The level she's at, I'm striving to get there.

"When we had some close games, it was a really tough battle of controlling the point."

Bouchard struggled to put away easy points against the Petkovic, smashing high lobs far too long and hitting angled shots too wide.

Petkovic said her young opponent's loss wasn't due to a lack of skill, but because she just needs more consistent match experience on the WTA tour.

"It's not a matter of strokes or of talent, I think she has it all," Petkovic said. "It's just a matter of playing these kind of matches all the time, every week, every day and I think that's just the difference.

"(Young players) are just not used to playing these matches on these levels all the time."

Petkovic will now make her first second-round appearance in this event when she takes on Hungary's Greta Arn. She was eliminated in the first round last year by Russia's Dinara Safina and failed to make it out of qualifying in 2009.

Petkovic did win a tournament in Strasbourg this year and also reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in January.

"At the beginning of the year my goal was to be top-20, so I've already surpassed my goal," Petkovic said. "I'm going to keep up the intensity and improve. I really hope I can make it to (the top-8) before the end of the year."

Two other Canadians were scheduled to play later Tuesday. Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., took on Israel's Shahar Peer, while Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., was set to meet Germany's Kathrin Woerle.

In other action Tuesday: Serbia's Ana Ivanovic breezed past Chinese qualifier Shuai Zhang 6-1, 6-1; Roberts Vinci got past Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2; China's Shuai Peng eliminated Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-1, 7-5; Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues topped Italy's Sara Errani 7-5, 6-1; Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski won against Jelena Dokic after the Australian retired in the first set; Italy's Flavia Pennetta was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Russia's Maria Kirilenko; and Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova won 6-3, 6-4 over Argentina's Gisela Dulko.

American Serena Williams and second-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters were scheduled to play separate late matches.

With the delay in action, tournament organizers' decision to implement a "virtual combined" format is looking good. For the first time both the men's and women's tournaments are being played simultaneously in the same week, meaning fans at Rexall Centre can watch men's play in Montreal via numerous screens outfitted around the stadium.