singles semi-finals of the XL Bermuda Open at Coral Beach and Tennis Club.

Bryan Shelton was unable to survive an outbreak of TB -- as in tie-break -- allowing what looked like an invincible 6-3 lead in a tense second set tie-breaker to slip away, opening the door for Colombian Mauricio Hadad to set up a date with Javier Frana of Argentina in today's final (2 p.m.).

Hadad defeated Shelton 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6) in a two-set match which lasted just under two hours.

Earlier in the day Vince Spadea, riding a slow, steadily climbing train that carried him from No. 80 at the beginning of the year to No. 60 this week, saw his Open hopes derailed by Frana, who scored a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in a one hour, 58 minute match on the green frying pan of Stadium Court.

Frana, 28, winner of two titles in his career, enters a final for the seventh time since turning pro in 1986. Hadad, 23, will be playing in the second final of his seven year career and it's the first all South American final on the ATP tour this year. Ironically, the last time Hadad made it this far the final also had a South American flavour. He lost to Nicolas Pereira of Venezuela in Colombia last September.

It's also the only final involving players ranked higher than 100 -- Hadad is at No. 114 while Frana is ranked at 104 -- and the winner will be the lowest ranked player to win an event so far in 1995. Only six players with a ranking higher than 100 won on the circuit last year.

It's also the first time Hadad and Frana have faced each other.

Each player now has a shot at the $43,000 that goes to the winner of the Open.

The losing finalist receives $25,300.

Frana and partner Patrick McEnroe weren't so lucky later in the day, losing 7-5, 6-2 to Brett Steven of New Zealand and Jason Stoltenberg of Australia in one of the doubles semi-finals. In the nightcap Todd Martin of the US and Grant Connell of Canada got past Austria's Alex Antonitsch and Germany's Martin Sinner 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The doubles final will follow the singles this afternoon, with the winners sharing $21,000.

With the standing room only crowd firmly behind Shelton, it seemed inevitable that the match would head into a third set. But his downfall was unforced errors, committing 54 of them, with 12 hitting the net.

"Bryan wasn't serving very well and he was giving me lots of chances,'' said Hadad. "With my second serve I had a lot of break points but I couldn't convert. Thank God I pulled it off.'' With the determined grimness gone from his face, replaced by an easy and brilliant smile, Hadad added: "It's awesome. I'm very happy and I just can't describe it. I'm happy with my game and I hope to win tomorrow.'' Hadad compiled some grim statistics from his return game, winning only one of 11 break points. But he still drew praise from Shelton, who double faulted six times.

"It's tough, I was a little frustrated with myself letting the first set slip away and I carried that a little bit into the second set,'' said Shelton. "He came out with some good shots and he just kept digging the ball at my feet and made it tough for me.'' Nothing could dim the lustre of the way Shelton fought, however, but in the end he looked like a man in quicksand.

"(Hadad) just never quit,'' said Shelton, who joined the tour million dollar club in Bermuda this week (semi-finalists receive $15,000). "Unfortunately when I got up 6-3 I didn't put a first serve in. I had a weak second serve and then he jumped on it.

"He's just lightning quick. Just his mobility...I've played (Michael) Chang and even he doesn't really have a step on him. Mauricio is one of the quickest players in the game.'' Looking tired late in the match Shelton was clearly buoyed by support from the crowd.

"It kind of helped me knowing there were so many people pulling for me. I didn't want to give up.'' At 3.10 p.m. yesterday Spadea's bridge to his first title was sabotaged by Frana, who overcame a poor first set, his net play improving in the final two sets.

Frana, with a whipping forehand, now leads the rivalry with Spadea 2-0, having beaten the 20-year-old American during last year's US Open. Spadea put together only six winners on his forehand side and committed 16 unforced errors.

Down a set, Frana came back strongly in the second, winning the first three games, breaking Spadea in the second game. Later, with Spadea trailing 3-5, Frana took full advantage as the American squandered a golden opportunity to narrow the gap when he lost the game despite holding advantage five times.

"It was a tough match, I mean, what can you say,'' said Spadea, shrugging and sagging afterwards. "I just had a little bit of a letdown where you can't afford to have letdowns. But I've got to learn from that and make sure that I'm a little bit tougher next time.

Frana, on paper at least, looks like a tough foe for Hadad. In four matches at the Open he leads in percentage of service games won (93 percent), break points saved (11 of 14) and is tied in total points won (279 of 498) and first serve points won (75 percent). He's also third in aces with 23.

"I'm happy, but yesterday I played much better than today,'' said Frana.

"Today I made more mistakes, but I'm happy because it was a very difficult match.

"I think I've played a little better this week than in Buenos Aires. But in any final it's going to be tough because it's the last match. I'm going to try to think it's only one more match.'' Frana normally gets stronger late in the year winning both his titles in fall of 1991 and 1993. The six finals he's been involved in have taken place in October or November.

"For me its always tough to start the year,'' he said. "I always take two, three months sometimes. I always finish the year playing very well. It's good for me to start the year this way.'' Frana sewed up seven aces in the match (he now has 23 for the week) compared to six for Spadea. He converted eight of nine break points on his serve. His first serve percentage was 72 percent (50 of 69) but Spadea converted 47 of 60 (78 percent).

"In the third set I tried to concentrate more,'' he said. "You always get a little tired so that means you can make mistakes.'' TODAY AT THE OPEN Stadium Court (Matches start at 2.00 p.m.) Singles final Mauricio Hadad, Colombia v Javier Frana, Argentina Doubles final Brett Steven, New Zealand/Jason Stoltenberg, Australia v Todd Martin, US/Grant Connell, Canada Photos by Tony Cordeiro GONE SOUTH -- Argentina's Javier Frana (above) battled back to beat American Vince Spadea 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and set up an all-South American Bermuda Open final against Mauricio Hadad of Colombia (below) who last night extinguished the challenge of American Bryan Shelton 7-6, 7-6.

VINCE SPADEA -- lost a three-set semi-final thriller with Argentina's Javier Frana.