confirmed he will compete in the XL Capital Bermuda Open next month.

The 22-year-old Melbourne semi-finalist is no stranger to Bermuda and has appeared twice in the Island's top annual tennis tournament.

Two years ago he defeated Australian Scott Draper on his way to the quarter-finals where he was beaten by the eventual winner, Belgian Johan Van Merck.

And, as a 19-year-old, in his 1996 debut on the clay courts at Coral Beach, Lapentti was a doubles semi-finalist, eventually going down to the formidable pairing of Pat Rafter and Pat Cash.

The Ecuadorian's career has been steadily on the rise since then and he has now climbed to number 44 in the ATP rankings.

His best performance came at the Australian Open in January when he reached the last four.

Swede Thomas Enquvist denied Lapentti his first appearance in a Grand Slam final, but in the quarter-finals he claimed the impressive scalp of the current world number 12, Karol Kucera, of Slovakia.

Lapentti will play both singles and doubles at Coral Beach, though his doubles partner has yet to be named.

He usually plays with Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, but Kuerten is expected to be playing in Barcelona during Open week.

Tournament director Alec Anderson said: "We're really excited about Lapentti coming here. He's an up-and-coming player and I'll think we'll see great things from him this year.'' The field for the $100,000 Challenger tournament should be finalised within the next fortnight and ATP rules allow one other player ranked as high as 11 to 50 in the singles event. Top ten players are disqualified from Challenger singles events.

This week, Lapentti has been in action at the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, but a sprained ankle forced him to retire from his second-round clash with Jerome Golmard at a time when he was leading the Frenchman 5-3 in the first set.

The biggest name to be confirmed for the Bermuda Open, world number five Pat Rafter, also had a bad day at the same tournament.

Rafter, who will play doubles with Paul Kilderry and play an exhibiton match on semi-final Saturday, suffered a shock 6-7, 1-6 defeat at the hands of his fellow Australian, 18-year-old Lleyton Hewitt.

Anderson said advance ticket sales for the April 12-18 tournament had been going well, especially for the weekend of the semi-finals and finals. Seats can be booked by ringing 296-2554.

The tournament will be televised by Fox Sports.

Power play: Australian Open semi-finalist Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador has confirmed he will play at Coral Beach next month in the Bermuda Open.