Bermuda's James Collieson and Donald Evans will be looking for the best victories of their tennis careers when they take part in the qualifying round of the XL Capital Bermuda Open at the weekend.

Both players have been offered wildcards for the ATP Challenger tournament at Coral Beach, but to reach the main draw they will have to defeat one of the overseas professionals flying in for the $100,000 event.

Collieson, 22, was in the Bermuda Davis Cup team who last month earned promotion to Americas Group III in Honduras, where he won four successive singles rubbers, and this will be a rare opportunity for locals to see him in action.

Collieson plays number one for the University of North Carolina on the highly competitive US collegiate tennis circuit.

Evans has also played Davis Cup for his country, though not this year nor last year, when work commitments in the US rendered him unavailable.

Jenson Bascome, one of Collieson's team-mates in Honduras, was also offered a wildcard, but the 20-year-old was unable to accept because of exams at his college in Philadelphia.

Three other qualifying wildcards have been granted to up-and-coming international players Ben Atkinson, Fernando Gonzalez and Giovanni Lapentti, brother of last year's top seed Nicolas Lapentti, who started 1999 ranked 92 and finished as the world number eight.

The draw for the qualifying round will take place on Friday evening and action will start on Saturday morning at 9.00 a.m. and on Sunday at 10.00 a.m.

Admission will be free to spectators on both days.

Monday will see the start of the first round proper. There are four wildcards in the main draw and three of these have been allocated to American James Blake plus two Australians, Paul Kilderry, who will also partner Pat Rafter in the doubles, and Todd Woodbridge.

Woodbridge, 29, along with with fellow Aussie Mark Woodforde, enjoyed global domination of men's doubles for most of the last decade in a phenomenally successful partnership affectionately known as "The Woodies''.

Along with India's Leander Paes, who will compete in the singles and Richie Reneberg, who will go for his third successive doubles title this year, Woodbridge is one of three players in the Open field to have once been ranked the top doubles player in the world.

Despite the absence of two-time defending champion Hernan Gumy, who will instead be playing in a more lucrative tournament in Barcelona, and last year's biggest star Lapentti, the 2000 field is probably stronger overall than 1999.

Two of the strong Australian contingent, Andrew Ilie and Jason Stoltenberg, last week contested the final of the ATP tournament in Atlanta, with Ilie coming out on top 6-3, 7-5 to take his second Tour title.

With the victory, Ilie earned 35 points in the ATP Champions Race, based solely on results this year, propelling him up from number 68 to 33.

For Stoltenberg, it was a second final appearance of the year, after he was runner-up in Sydney in January.

On Sunday, youngsters will get their chance to learn from the professionals when brothers and doubles partners Luke and Murphy Jensen hold a junior clinic, sponsored by Conyers, Dill and Pearman.

All children taking part in the two-hour clinic, from 2.00 p.m to 4.00 p.m., have been invited by local coaches.

Golden opportunity: Bermuda Davis Cup player James Collieson gets his first crack at the XL Capital Bermuda Open this weekend with a wildcard entry to the qualifying event.