Kennedy, displaying nerves of steel, played giant killer last night by defeating second-ranked Ricky Mallory 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in the Heineken Bermuda Open.

Calling it the biggest win of his career, the 34-year-old said last year's first round loss against Mallory was uppermost in his mind during the late stages of the second set, fully aware that his wily opponent was capable of stitching together a comeback. A year ago Kennedy was only two games away from upsetting Mallory in straight sets before losing the match.

"That was definitely a possibility again,'' said Kennedy, who gained the appreciation of the crowd at the Tennis Stadium and a semi-final berth against the Open's top seed Michael Way this afternoon (4.45 p.m.). "You never know with Ricky whether he's going to come back or not.'' Mallory was unable to dig himself out of a deep hole in the second set and appeared to be a little bit rusty playing in only his first match in almost a year.

"I hung in the first set with him, but the second set I just kind of gave up which I don't usually do,'' said Mallory afterwards. "I don't know, for some reason I don't feel that I'm match fit yet. I got tired and frustrated, but I'll be back next tournament.'' Kennedy kept the pressure on and "I just hung in there, hoping I wouldn't make a lot of errors. Fortunately he did. I didn't try to do anything special and just tried to keep the ball in play.'' Kennedy now faces another tough opponent in Way, who defeated David Lambert 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.

He later said that he'll have to keep the ball deep if he hopes to unseat the Open's defending champion.

"Ricky definitely wasn't playing up to his normal level and I think I was actually more lucky than anything else,'' he said. "With Michael I'll just try to play my game. If I don't keep the ball deep ... any short ball, well, he's going to go on the attack.'' In another quarter-final match Gregg Frigerio -- the only person to beat Way in a tournament last year -- had an easy time over Nick Frost, 6-2, 6-2.

"I hit the ball okay...it's the first match I've played in a while so I was pretty happy,'' said Frigerio.

Frigerio will now play Roger Marshall in the other semi-final match. Marshall defeated David Hyland 6-2, 6-2 last night.

Meanwhile, Donald Evans, who was expected to be a major force in the tournament and originally ranked second, was forced to pull out at the last minute after hurting his left knee during a match last weekend in Baltimore.

Doctors told him yesterday that initial tests were unable to show whether there has been damage done to his anterior cruciate ligament and whether he could be facing surgery.

That could put in doubt Evans' presence at the Tennis Extravaganza being planned for early July at the Tennis Stadium involving Way, Mallory and former Bermuda number one Steve Alger. If Evans is unable to play it's possible that top junior James Collieson will be added to the star-studded line-up.

"It's getting stronger every day,'' said Evans, who was clearly disappointed about not being able to compete in the first big tournament of the year in Bermuda.

"I put the time aside and I was looking forward to it, then this happened.''