alight this morning when he opens his account in the men's doubles open, teaming with Gary Holland against Norberto Herrero and Steve Marks.

The former Australian Open champion, who won 31 ATP Tour titles between 1972 and 1984, was renowned for his fierce serve, once clocked at 149mph and still the fastest in tennis.

He will play with his Bermuda host Robin Blackburne in the men's doubles 45 -- the pair being seeded second behind Earl Leader and Patrick O'Kelly.

Meanwhile, in yesterday's play, the unranked father and daughter partnership of Rene and Wendy Gelhay made third seeds Nina Alami and Dick Mount work for their three set victory. Alami and Mount won 6-1 3-6 6-1. In the men's singles, top seed Ricky Mallory made short work of Sean Dennis, winning 6-0 6-0 but Dennis bounced back to win in the mixed doubles open with his partner Beverly Dennis, ousting Ina and Denny Williams 4-6 6-2 6-2.

In the ladies doubles open the top ranked duo of Kelly Holland and Gill Butterfield laboured before defeating Nicola Jones and Juanita Shaw 7-5 6-4.