The love of tennis has drawn hundreds of thousands to the shores of Bermuda over the past century, from the Van Nostrands, who graced the courts at Wimbledon, to US Open winners Andy Roddick and Pat Rafter, who followed more than a quarter of a century later.

But none have loved it more than Janet Greene of Massachusetts, who finds herself playing in the 73rd BLTC Invitational Tennis Tournament at Coral Beach and Tennis Club this week a mere three weeks after having her appendix taken out!

If that alone doesn't surprise her opponents, the fact that she is seeded number one in the Century Mixed Doubles with her Bermudian partner Earl Leader and is currently on track to reach the finals, should.

However, her lofty ranking as second seed with Nanny Vanneck in the Ladies' 55 Doubles didn't faze her third-seeded opponents yesterday when the pair of Faith Bascome and Maureen O'Berg took no mercy, nor any 'prisoners', on their way to a mini-upset, winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in a battle where only the fittest survived.

With the match evenly poised at a set apiece, and 2-2 in the deciding set, Vanneck lost her serve after being up 30-15. But it was all downhill from there with the combination of O'Berg and Bascome winning four games on the trot, taking the game, set and match.

However, Greene is still in the Century Mixed where she is expected to be fully tested again this afternoon when she and her top-seeded partner will take on the unseeded but dangerous pair of Mac and Craig Brand from Pennsylvania in a semi-final clash.

In other action the top-seeded pair of Michael Beautyman and Vernal Davis, missing by a whisker being defaulted when Davis had conflicting times for his match, recovered from that ordeal to oust third seeds Earl Leader and Patrick O'Kelly of Canada 6-1, 6-1.

"Those guys (Davis and Beautyman) were just on track today. There was nothing that we could do to even slow them down," remarked O'Kelly. "When we were down 1-5 in the second set I thought it may be like the day before when we trailed Cunningham and Reichenbacher and won 7-5, but that was a short-lived dream that Vernal and Michael quickly put to rest."

There are six finals scheduled today with Davis and Beautyman putting their seeding on the line against the veteran pair of Ron Groff and Craig Brand, while Janet Greene will be facing a crucial semi-final clash with Leader in the Century Mixed when they face the experienced duo of Mac and Craig Brand at noon.