when she stunned women's second-ranked Sheila Gomez 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals of the Heineken Bermuda Open tennis tournament at the Tennis Stadium.

"I'm more surprised than you,'' said Darrell, when she walked off the court, almost unnoticed because all eyes were glued to Court One where the highly-touted men's doubles semifinals was being waged involving top seeds Ricky Mallory and Steve Bean against Ken McDonald and John Moore.

In the women's semifinal, Darrell's victory was made all the more startling because she had never before beaten Gomez, one of the top ranked players in Bermuda. But she would not be denied, winning eight consecutive games.

Things were not as easy for the men as the highly-fancied pair of Mallory and Bean had to fight from behind a 2-0 deficit in the deciding set on their way to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. That match lasted for two hours and twenty minutes.

The match started badly for the top seeds as Mallory had three double faults, the only break in the set. He redeemed himself in the second set to level the match. In the deciding set, Moore held at 30 and then broke Bean for the first time in the match to go up 2-0, only to have the top seeds storm back to take a 4-2 lead. In the end it was left to Bean to serve for the match, winning at 30.

This now sets the stage for what should be an entertaining men's doubles final between Mallory and Bean and the second seeds, Mike Curry and Stuart Smith, who disposed of Monty Nearon and Andrew Kennedy in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1 in their semifinal earlier yesterday.

Mallory will also be involved in an interesting mixed doubles semifinal today when he and Gill Butterfield -- seeded third -- take on the top seed sister-and-brother team of Claire and Stuart Smith.

Unseeded Mark Ward pulled off a mild upset when he defeated fifth seed Frank Tersigni 6-3, 6-2.