The action was fast and the players sometimes furious on the first day of the Starr Bermuda Open yesterday.

Some of the world’s top squash players got their first taste of life on the courts of Bermuda on the opening day of the tournament but, for the only local in the field, familiarity with the facilities proved no advantage.

Bermuda’s Taylor Carrick, one of the lowest-ranked players at the event was knocked out in the first round by Leandro Romiglio, from Argentina. Romiglio won comfortably 11-4, 11-5, 11-2, with Carrick unable to bridge the gap in ability against a player ranked more than 100 places higher than him

“He played a lot better than me and he is a very solid player,” Carrick said.

“He had more quality, I couldn’t get my length behind him and he was making me do most of the work.

“I just needed to get my length behind him, whether that was harder or higher or both but he was just taking it before the back wall and he had me moving all the way to the back.

“I haven’t really learnt anything new from this game. This is something that has been happening with my length and getting the ball to the back. I had opportunities but I just didn’t capitalise on what was required.”

When it comes to furious, there is perhaps no better way to describe the epic five-set game between US team-mates Nick Spizzirri and Shahjahan Khan, which was undoubtedly the best match of the day.

With both players happy to voice their displeasure at their opponent and the referee and with some rallies measured in minutes rather than number of shots, the match lasted nearly two hours before Spizzirri won 11-9 in a roller-coaster final game.

Spizzirri, who had let a 2-0 lead in games slip, also had to recover from receiving a blow to a very personal region during the final set but was pleased to have got one over on his higher-ranked international team-mate.

“I guess it was more fun to watch than it was to play as it was very tiring,” Spizzirri said.

“On court we don’t treat each other like team-mates. It’s an individual tournament so you’ve got to treat everyone like your opponent, so that's what I try to do, even if I'm playing a team-mate or a friend.

“It’s pretty easy to get up for a fifth game as it’s just one more push, leave it all out there and empty the tank because the match is over either way, whoever wins, but the legs were getting real heavy.

“There was one moment when he elbowed me in the part that shall not be named, but we train pretty hard outside of the tournaments to be able to play long matches like that and I’m just happy to get over the line.”

With the tournament taking place in Bermuda, it is a long way to travel for just one game if you are eliminated in the first round and no player had come from further afield than Ella-Jane Lash, who made the trip from New Zealand.

Lash also received no gimme in the draw, forced to play Isabella Tang, a late entrant into the tournament and the top-ranked junior in the United States. But rather than face more than 24 hours of travel back to her homeland, the 20-year-old put in a dominant performance to win 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5.

The Kiwi had arrived in Bermuda over the weekend and is staying with the Fletcher family, with mother Jamie originally hailing from New Zealand, and she admits that the jet-lag has been difficult to overcome.

“I honestly don’t know how I did it,” Lash said. “I was absolutely buggered the first day I got here and then stayed at home for a couple of hours before heading straight down to the courts to try and just sweat out the jet-lag a bit.

“I’ve had really good sleeps the last couple of days and I think that's helped massively for my energy.

“I’m also not really feeling that homesick as I’m staying with a Kiwi and it’s so nice to hear an accent like your own when you’re so far away from home. It feels like home when I’m there and they are so lovely and welcoming.”

Caribbean champion Meagan Best nearly produced the shock of the day when going down in five game to Spain’s Noa Romero.

Best, who received a wild card into the tournament, was leading 2-1 in games and looked on the verge of a huge upset win before Romero took the final two games 11-7, 11-6.

“I knew coming in that I was an underdog as I don’t really have much experience compared with the girls on tour,” Best said.

“I knew that I’d have to rise to the occasion but there was a moment when I thought that if I could keep on doing what I am doing, then I might bring it home.

“Her experience showed, she changed her game plan a little and I just didn’t find an answer in time, but this is a good experience, I’m going to learn a lot from the match and everyone has to start somewhere.”

Khamal Cumberbatch is the men’s Caribbean champion but he found the going tough against the experienced Mathias Knudsen, who prevailed 11-3, 11-1, 11-4.

Cumberbatch also has little experience of taking on the best in the world but is adamant he will learn from the experience.

“We’ve had the privilege of playing Caribbean squash and we’ve had the opportunity to go to Pan American Games and CAC Games,” he said.

“The level keeps increasing but these tournaments are completely different in terms of consistency. These guys play at a higher pace and obviously week in, week out are playing tournaments all around the world.

“I’ve played squash for a long time but playing at a professional level is just a different step. We’re just starting out but we feel the potential within ourselves to really take it all the way, so it’s just one step at a time.