Tournament organisers were determined to look on the bright side yesterday as three of the XL Bermuda Open’s big names withdrew from the event at the 11th hour due to injury.

German Nicholas Kiefer (wrist), a former world number four, and past Open champions Luis Horna of Peru (leg) and Brazilian Flavio Saretta (back) were all sidelined for the US Clay Court Championships in Houston last week and contacted the tournament office in Bermuda yesterday to advise they were still not fit for action.

Their absence undeniably diminishes the overall quality of this year’s field, although tournament director Alec Anderson yesterday preferred to focus attention on the presence of number one seed Sam Querrey, the big-serving Californian who is tipped for great things.

“It’s not ideal by any stretch of the imagination,” he said when asked about the withdrawals.

“We were looking forward to having them here, but things like this happen all the time in professional sport and there’s very little you can do about.

“This has happened to us in the past, not just prior to the tournament but while the players are actually here as well, so it’s just a matter of getting on with it.

“I wouldn’t characterise it as a major blow to our event or anything like that because although they’re all good players, it’s not like any of them are big household names.

“The most important thing is that we’ve got (number one seed) Sam Querrey here, who most people believe is really going to be upwardly mobile in the game.

“He’s a very gifted player. I watched him in Miami two weeks ago (at the Sony Ericsson Open) and it was obvious the guy’s got enormous potential. And he’s only 19 as well so it will be exciting to see him play this week.”

Meanwhile, a player who is still expected to be in the tournament is 28-year-old Argentinian Mariano Zabaleta, who yesterday lost in the final of the US Clay Court Championships to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

The former world number 21 beat America’s James Blake in the semis, however, and would therefore be one of the clear favourites to take the title here.

Nevertheless, Anderson was a little concerned yesterday that after a long, energy-sapping tournament in Houston, Zabaleta may decide to withdraw from the comparatively insignificant $100,000 Challenger Series event.

It was not clear by press time last night whether the in-form Argentinian would be travelling to the Island.

Other noteworthy names in the draw this year include wild card entrant Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, who was once ranked as high as 42 in the world and lost to Horna in the 2004 XL at the quarter-final stage, as well as young Scoville Jenkins, the American who rose to prominence in 2005 at the US Open when he reached the second round and gave world number two Rafael Nadal a decent run for his money.

While the main draw players spent the weekend either practising on the green clay courts or travelling to the Island, those with insufficient ranking points were forced to battle it out in the three-round qualifying tournament.

Nikita Kryvonos, originally from eastern Europe but now a resident in the US, defeated Switzerland’s Sven Swinnen in the first round 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 before having a far easier time of it in the next against another Swiss, Alexander Sadecky, winning 6-3, 6-4.

And in the final qualifying round yesterday morning, Kryvonos had to battle hard to put away South African Fritz Wolmarans 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

German Alex Satschko secured his place in the main draw with a commanding 6-1, 6-0 win over Chile’s Hermes Gamonal while Romania’s Horia Tecau overcame Andy Bray’s conqueror, American Justin Natale, in straight sets before going on to thrash Germany’s Frank Moser 6-3, 6-1.

The final main draw qualifier was Chile’s Jorge Aguilar, who defeated Argentinian Diego Alvarez in the second round, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, before going on to beat the German Lars Burgsmuller 6-4, 7-6.

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