Eugenie Bouchard rocks the Nike dress, but has unfinished business against Magdalena Rybarikova as rain washes out Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON – First things first: the dress.

As much as many of the Nike players looked awkward in "the dress" at Wimbledon Monday, that's how good Canadian Genie Bouchard looked Tuesday afternoon when she took the court for her first-round match against Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

Maybe it's because of all the experience she had with this one earlier in the year.

The white, accordian-pleated, frothy negligée looked as though it was made for Bouchard. Perhaps they should have made it exclusively hers.

It turns out she wasn't just toeing the company line when she discussed how much she loved it before the tournament began.

Here's how it looked on Tuesday.

There was certainly a little attention focused on Bouchard's dress debut, and the potential for wardrobe disaster. The funniest part was that at the beginning of the match, there were three photographers sitting side by side on the courtside bench, ready to chronicle whatever adventures might ensure – and all three were women.

But all went well.

With that little matter, crucially important to the survival of the species, out of the way, let's turn our attention to the secondary notion of the day: Bouchard's tennis.

The 22-year-old was on a roll against Rybarikova when the rains came just after 4:30 p.m. and forced the players off the court and the tarps onto the court. Eventually, they called off the rest of the day, with the only action on Centre Court under the roof.

After coughing up her serve in the first game of the match, Bouchard rolled through the first set in less than 30 minutes. She was in trouble in the first service of the second set, down love-30, but came back to hold in impressive fashion.

First, she ran down a dropshot – she saw it coming a mile away – and hit a delicate little slice backhand angle winner. Then she served and hit a swinging forehand volley to get it back even. Then she hit an ace out wide, then she hit a serve and a crosscourt backhand winner to hold.

The Canadian broke Rybarikova, and then, that was it for the day, with the Wednesday forecast looking rather gloomy.

Whenever the restart occurs, the rest of the match will be telling in terms of the progress Bouchard has made over the last few weeks on the confidence side.

She was playing well, but until she finishes it off, there's always that sense that the house of cards is still a little fragile – that something as normal as a rain delay could throw everything off, throw a little self-doubt into the mix, break up a winning rhythm.

It doesn't seem likely to happen here as Rybarikova, who has had an injury-plagued season and likely had few expectations this Wimbledon beyond picking up a first-round loser's paycheque that has dropped significantly in value since the events of last week, is banged up.

How many issues does the 27-year-old have? Let's enumerate them.

There's the long strip of tape all the way up the back of her right leg.

There's the skin-coloured support for her right knee, and the tape around her ankle.

And there's the support on her left wrist – it's practically a cast.

All of that should stand Bouchard in good stead as she tries to close it out.

If she does, she'll likely meet No. 16 Johanna Konta of Great Britain in the second round as Konta – also rained out Tuesday – was leading Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-1, 2-1 when play was called.

If this indeed is the second-round matchup, it's going to get a very good court assignment – Centre Court or No. 1 Court – the better to get even more exposure for "the dress".