Bermuda Open Championships in recent years when they upset top men's doubles seeds Ricky Mallory and Steve Bean at the Tennis Stadium on Saturday.

A large and enthusiastic crowd witnessed Bermuda's top-ranked doubles pair suffer their first defeat this year and it was revenge of sorts for Curry who was earlier beaten in the singles final by Mallory.

The second seeds gained local bragging rights when they came from a set down and a break in the fourth game of the deciding set to win a tension-filled three-hour thriller, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Bean and Mallory gained the early upper hand when they broke Curry and Smith on consecutive serves in the sixth and eighth games for a 5-3 advantage. They then broke Curry again in the 10th game for the first set.

But the turning point in the match actually came in the second set when Curry and Smith broke Mallory for a 6-5 lead after the top seeds recovered from a 5-3 deficit. With the advantage again, Curry served out for the set.

In the deciding set, the teams traded service breaks in the seventh and eighth games to level the score at 4-4. But then Bean was broken in the ninth game after holding a 30-love lead. Smith held for the match, clinching victory when Bean mishit a backhand.

"It was just one of those days,'' said Bean after the gruelling match. "They consistently returned well throughout the match, which never allowed us any breathing room and when that happens you cannot afford to make any mistakes.

Each time we did, it cost us.'' Earlier, Mallory confirmed himself as the Island's number one player with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Curry.

The day's other major upset saw Debbie Darrell complete the cycle of victories over the top three women to capture the singles title with a stunning triumph over top seed Gill Butterfield, 6-3, 7-5.

Darrell had beaten Bermuda number one Donna Bradshaw in another tournament and capped that with victories over Sheila Gomez and Butterfield.

"Today's victory just culminated an unbelievably successful week for me,'' said Darrell, "one I will never forget.'' Meanwhile, the brother-and-sister pair of Stuart and Claire Smith continued their marvellous record of never having lost as a team. Their latest mixed doubles victims were fourth-ranked Brian Way and Wendy Gelhay who were blown away 6-1, 6-1 in only 45 minutes.

In all, nine finals were held during the day where Earl Leader defeated Bob Stewart 6-0, 6-2 in the senior men's singles, while Bernt Miller and Ray Knight took the doubles crown with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Rolf Theisen and Oliver Bain.

Though Butterfield was upset in the women's singles final, she teamed with Gelhay to take the doubles crown, 6-3, 6-3, over Jacqui White and Ailsa Campbell.

In the B championships, Gina Sousa beat Mary Johnson 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) for the women's title and Graham Williams collected the easiest win of finals day when he won the men's singles by default over Mark Ward, who had to withdraw because of an emergency family matter.

RICKY MALLORY -- Seen retrieving during Saturday's singles final win over Mike Curry, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

MIKE CURRY.