Some players have already hit the Coral Beach courts three times but the real action doesn?t begin until 11 a.m. today as the main draw of the $100,000 XL Capital Bermuda Open gets underway.

Bright sunshine and sapping humidity were the order of the weekend as the gritty, hard-fought qualifiers took place in front of a crowd of ball boys and volunteers.

But the bleachers should be full tonight at the annual tennis extravaganza as former world number six Nicolas Lapentti opens his account as top billing in the night session when he takes on Adam Chadaj of Poland.

Lapentti, whose younger brother Giovanni plays Argentine Juan-Pablo Guzman in the second game of the day, has claimed some big scalps in his international career but has stumbled in recent years and dropped out of the top 100.

Tonight, however, he?ll be looking to relaunch on the slow, green clay.

His opponent Chadaj, ranked 306 in the world, defeated Serbian showman Dusan Vemic ? the conqueror of Bermuda?s James Collieson in both singles and doubles qualifying ? in the last game of the final qualifying round yesterday to claim his place in the main draw.

Vemic, who is keeping his fingers crossed for a late withdrawal and a ?lucky loser? place in the real thing, was one of two top-four qualifying seeds not to make it through.

Czech number four seed Jan Minar, world number 302, was defeated by Jordan Kerr of Australia whose place in the main draw was then taken in the third round of qualifying 6-2, 6-3 by Mashiska Washington, younger brother of US star and former world number 11 MaliVai. Washington junior takes on American Alex Kuznetsov in today?s opening game of the tournament at 11 a.m.

Other qualifiers to make it through were number one and two qualifying seeds Juan Pablo Brzezicki of Argentina ? who takes on Czech number four seed Michal Tabara in the opening game of the evening session ? and Czech Tomas Cakl, 244 in the world, who plays number three seed Edgardo Massa tomorrow.

In other games today, Canadian rising star Frank Dancevic, beaten in the second round last year by eventual winner Luis Horna, takes on Czech number eight seed Ivo Minar at 1 p.m. before playing doubles later in the day with Vemic against Gregory Zavialoff of France and Gregory Chambaz, a Swiss player whose parents live in Bermuda.

The final game of the day session sees regular Bermuda visitor Franco Squillari of Argentina take on 20-year-old Swedish left-hander Michael Ryderstedt.

Many of the big names, some yet to arrive on the Island due to involvement in other tournaments, roll into action tomorrow, including number one seed Kevin Kim, a semi-finalist last year, number six seed and former world number four Thomas Enqvist, as well as former winner Flavio Saretta and young wildcard entry Scoville Jenkins.

Later in the week will see the Champions Challenge take place, an exciting new event featuring former stars Jim Courier, Aaron Krickstein, Mikael Pernfors and Mats Wilander battling it out in Friday?s and Saturday?s night sessions.