Three of the Island's top tennis players will be vying for Bermuda's two remaining Davis Cup spots later today.

Devaunne Ratteray, Jovan Whitter and Ryan Swan will be seeking to join Jenson Bascome and James Collieson, members of last year's team.

"It is a round-robin format," said Allan Simmons, honorary life vice president of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association. "We will have one match on Friday at 4 p.m., one on Saturday at 3 p.m. and one on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Tennis Stadium.

"At the end of the round-robin we will determine the positions and in the event of a tie we will use the same format that is used in the Davis Cup."

Simmons said for one reason or another other prospective players dropped out of contention.

"There were some other players that were in school that couldn't get out because of exams," he said. "We had about six initially but all sorts of other things have prevented the other players from coming down for the trials."

However, although three into two does not go, Simmons said whoever lost out might still find themselves going to St Vincent for the competition between April 1 and 7.

"Even though we select two players from the trials there is always the possibility of someone being injured prior to the event," he said. "As a result the other person always stands by as an alternate. If one of the four for some reason is not able to go we have this other player."

Simmons was realistic about Bermuda's chances of success in the Americas Zone Group Four tournament where they will be up against Antigua, Barbuda, the Eastern Organisation of Caribbean States, the US Virgin Islands, Barbados, Bolivia and St. Lucia.

"Because we have two young players in there our chances of moving up this year are not that great," he said. "We are certainly going to give it our best shot, but there are a lot of tough teams in this division even though it is Group Four.

"The top teams go up to Group Three for next year and the rest stay in Group Four because this is the lowest division and there is no relegation."

Last year Bermuda were relegated from Group Three after coming up the previous year.

"We are trying to move up but that is going to be a long hard struggle," Simmons said.