Jochen Schuemann to set up a quarter-final meeting with World Match Race champion Peter Gilmour on a day of upsets at the Gold Cup.

The Island's top sailor turned the tables with a 3-0 victory over the seventh-seed German, who beat him at the same stage last year, while Britain's Andy Beadsworth, seeded eighth, and France's Luc Pillot, seeded sixth, were casualties of qualifiers Gavin Brady and Murray Jones, respectively.

It was the first time since the format was introduced in 1989 that three seeds had fallen at this stage and American Ed Baird, ranked third, nearly became a fourth, only holding off Briton Andy Green, whom he later likened to a "pestering pitbull,'' in the fifth and deciding race.

A delighted Bromby said afterwards: "It made us extra pleased after losing last year. We always felt like we could beat him. But Jochen's a good competitor and I'm as much surprised by the 3-0 scoreline as I think he is.

"He got a few breaks last year and we got some this year -- but that's sailboat racing.'' Schuemann had suggested the previous night that he was struggling to come to terms with the extra weight of the international one-design boats and if that was so, Bromby exploited almost every ounce of self-doubt. Only when the Bermudian had victory in sight did he give the German a semblance of daylight.

Two-nil up, leading by a couple of boat lengths and with a penalty infringement in his favour, Bromby himself offended, his breach of the laws neutralising that of his opponent. But rather than let all his hard work slip away, Bromby actually increased his advantage on the final leg to secure the race by more than a minute and with it the match.

Bromby later paid tribute to his all-Bermudian crew of Lee White, Martin Siese and Steve King for handling what he described as "trying conditions'' and admitted having more races as a qualifier might have helped his cause.

"I think the few extra races do help,'' he said.

Earlier in the day, reigning champion Russell Coutts of New Zealand swept past John Burnham and Peter Holmberg, of the Virgin Islands, saw off Canadian Nigel Cochrane, both 3-0.

The latter's advance means that there will be at least one Holmberg in the semis after he was drawn against his namesake Magnus, the number five seed from Sweden, who disposed of Bermuda's other qualifier, Adam Barboza, by the same score. It was Barboza's third time in the last 16 and his third exit at that juncture.

The disappointed Bermudian said afterwards: "It was a very trying day. The shifts up at the windward mark (in Hamilton Harbour) were outrageous. But we were beaten by a superior team.'' Bromby's next opponent, Gilmour had an untroubled passage past Russian Andrew Arbuzov. Arbuzov later thanked the Australian for "a very good lesson'' and suggested he might have had a better chance if he'd taken a train instead.

In the remaining two quarter-finals, Coutts will take on Brady, who was born in New Zealand but now represents Hong Kong, while Baird is paired with Jones, another Kiwi.