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A long wait to get onto centre court was worth it for Stephanie Dubois as the Laval, Que., right-hander downed Olga Govortsova of Belarus in a rain-delayed match Monday night at the US$1.34 million Rogers Cup tennis tournament.

Only a scattering of pro-Dubois fans remained at Uniprix Stadium when the match started at about 11 p.m. ET, but they saw their favourite win when Govoertsova retired in the second set. Dubois was leading 6-1, 4-2.

Dubois improved to 3-1 in her career against Govoertsova.

Just before their match Tamira Paszek of Austria ousted 14th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-1 in a contest that lasted nearly seven hours and was interrupted four times by rain.

The match was tied at 1-1 in the third set when the fourth and longest delay halted play for 90 minutes. When they resumed, the 17-year-old Paszek quickly put away a match that lasted nearly seven hours.

Two earlier delays had also lasted more than an hour while another was only 23 minutes as the players left the court, returned, warmed up and resumed play only to have to repeat the process four times. There was a total of five rain delays for the day.

Paszek, ranked 94th in the world, avenged a first-round loss to Schiavone at last year's Rogers Cup in Toronto. Schiavone had beaten the Austrian in three long sets in the first round at Wimbledon in June, taking the third set 10-8.

One final match remained to be played late Monday night between Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., and Olga Govoertsova of Belarus, while a scheduled match between Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., and Nadia Petrova of Russia was postponed until Tuesday.

A case of the shakes and an upset stomach couldn't stop Marion Bartoli of France from advancing.

The 10th-seeded Bartoli had on-court treatment and a short restroom break during the second set as she battled through a stomach virus to down British qualifier Melanie South 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-0 in the first round of the hardcourt event at Uniprix Stadium.

''I was not feeling good at all,'' Bartoli said. ''My legs were shaking. My arms were shaking by themselves. I was really dizzy. I got cold.

''The doctor gave me some tablets to take. They helped a lot in the third set but it took a while for me to feel a little better. But I needed to come up with the win, so whatever it took, I had to hang in tough.''

Bartoli might not be alone. She was told by a physiotherapist that 15-to-20 players have come down with the virus.

''They told us to wash even more our hands and not touch the same food as the others, or drink the same water - to be really careful because there's a virus going on,'' she added.

Bartoli was optimistic she will feel better for her next match Wednesday.

Patty Schnyder led 7-6 (6), 3-2 when her opponent, Yuan Meng of China, pulled out with a thigh injury.

That put the ninth seed from Switzerland into a second-round meeting with Monica Niculescu, the Romanian who ousted American qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2.

The Schnyder-Yuan match was delayed for 16 minutes in the first set by light rain.

Qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito, the 15-year-old from Portugal who reached the round of 16 two weeks ago in Stanford, Calif., continued to impress with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over American Vania King.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia rolled past Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1 and will face another Russian, fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva, in the second round.

Anastasia Rodionova, still another of the 12 Russians in the 56-woman draw, downed Cara Black of Zimbabwe 6-2, 6-2 and Virginie Razzano ousted fellow Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-2.

The top eight seeds have a bye to the second round.

The event could be a battle for the world No. 1 ranking between current leader Ana Ivanovic, her Serbian compatriot Jelena Jankovic and No. 3 Maria Sharapova of Russia, all of whom will begin play later in the week.

The three are only 202 points apart, with 430 points up for grabs for the Rogers Cup winner.

Jankovic had a chance to overtake Ivanovic at a tournament last week in Los Angeles, but fell short when she was beaten in the semifinals.

''It's not disappointing because I was injured (a knee) at Wimbledon and I was trying to recover,'' said Jankovic. ''I couldn't practise for more than two weeks.

''I only had four days to train before Los Angeles, which is not enough, you know, to get in shape. What I have done in Los Angeles was a good result considering how much I trained.''

Still, she hopes to keep battling for the No. 1 spot.

''I just wish to stay healthy so that I can continue to play my game and keep improving,'' she said. ''Hopefully, my time will come.

''I don't really put pressure on myself. I had a lot of injuries this year.''