It was a red-letter day for Canadian players Tuesday at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Stephanie Dubois, 20, a native of Laval, Que., put forth a valiant effort to upset Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-7 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 in a thrilling marathon first-round matchup at the women's tennis tournament.

Canada's Stephanie Dubois returns a shot against Ai Sugiyama, of Japan, during their match in Toronto on Tuesday.Canada's Stephanie Dubois returns a shot against Ai Sugiyama, of Japan, during their match in Toronto on Tuesday.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., also moved onto the second round when Russian Anastasia Rodionova retired with a knee injury while trailing 6-4, 5-0.

Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., defeated Ekaterina Shulaeva of Oakville, Ont., 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the final match of the night to become the third Canadian to advance.

It's the first time in 16 years that three Canadians have reached the tournament's second round.

"That's awesome," Wozniak said of her country's first-round successes.

Dubois, ranked 115th in the world, fired a ball into the stands at Rexall Centre in delight after completing the victory against her 27th-ranked opponent.

"This means a lot to me because that's my favourite tournament," said Dubois. "Since I'm little, I'm watching it and I wanted to play in it, so I'm really happy."

Buoyed by the partisan crowd on the campus of York University, Dubois led 6-5 in the first set but let the lead slip away, and Sugiyama went on to win the set in a tiebreaker.

The Canadian broke Sugiyama's serve to take a 4-3 advantage in the second, and eventually served out to win the set 6-4.

Dubois jumped out 3-0 in the third set after breaking Sugiyama's serve, but the Japanese star battled back to tie it 3-3 and enjoyed a 5-3 advantage.

But Sugiyama couldn't finish off her young Canadian opponent. Dubois broke the Japanese player twice before serving out to win the match after two hours and 37 minutes of gruelling action.

Dubois will meet sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the next round. Wozniak faces No. 13 Cybille Bammer of Austria, while Pelletier challenges No. 2 Jelena Jankovic. Both Jankovic and Petrova received first-round byes.

Also on Tuesday, Italian Maria Elena Camerin upset No. 15 seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, and Bammer defeated France's Emilie Loit 6-1, 6-2.

In second-round action, No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia dispatched Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-2, 7-6 (7). No. 11 Shahar Peer of Israel defeated Italy's Tathiana Garbin, 6-3, 6-2, while No. 14 Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia retired during the second set of her second-round match against China's Shuai Peng.

In other first-round results Tuesday:

  • Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) defeated Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-2, 6-3.
  • Nathalie Dechy (France) defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-4, 7-5.
  • Virginie Razzano (France) defeated Aravane Rezai (France) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
  • Andreja Klepac (Slovakia) defeated Meilen Tu (United States) 6-3, 6-1.
  • Meghann Shaughnessy (United States) defeated Mara Santangelo (Italy) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
  • Maria Kirilenko (Russia) defeated Martina Muller (Germany) 6-1, 6-3.

World No. 1 Justin Henin of Belgium and No. 4 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, the defending Rogers Cup champion, play their first matches on Wednesday after receiving a bye into the second round.

The semifinals go Saturday (CBC, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET) and the final is slated for Sunday (CBC, 2 p.m. ET).

With files from the Associated Press