RAIN, swearing in Spanish, smashed racquets, swooning women, rising stars, falling stars and toppled seeds ? the XL Open must be back in town. Sandwiched between the Bermuda Masters squash and the 20-20 World Cricket Classic, April is proving a bonanza sports month for anyone even remotely interested in top-class competition on the island.

And the offerings so far on the green clay of Coral Beach have comfortably lived up to their billing.

The unfortunate ? but not unexpected ? appearance of thunderstorms and rain clouds have once again made hearts flutter in the tournament office, but no substantial damage has done be to the schedule despite the loss of four hours of play on Tuesday.

The extra court capacity at the club, often left unused in clement weather, allows the organisers to soak up any extra matches that need to be scheduled with little trouble.

If the rain ? and sometimes just the threat of rain ? has done any damage this year it is to spectator numbers.

A lot of great games of tennis have been missed by those scared away or too cold to stay ? which is somewhat of a disservice to the players who are mostly battling it out at either the end or the beginning of their careers.

Antony Dupuis ? who probably had a biggish crowd in Houston when beating James Blake in the US Men's Claycourt Championships ? continued his good run by disposing of top seed Paul Goldstein on Tuesday.

Unfortunately the match was played on an outside court in front of ten spectators, not the best venue for a memorable giant-killing ? at least last year's top seed went out in an evening centre court match.

Where the spectator-player bond has worked well this year, however, is through an intelligent use of the wildcard system by tournament director Alec Anderson.

Scoville Jenkins, the rising African-American star, might have been beaten on Monday night by a lanky European, but his dynamic tennis, which saw him rush to a 4-2 lead in the second after comfortably claiming the first, was certainly appreciated by the crowd.

He got plenty of cheers ? and the odd wolf-whistle ? a spectator response that was replicated the following night when the Scud fired onto centre court.

Unlike other big name wildcards who fizzle out early here after a nice day at the Coral Beach Club and some junior tennis clinic work, Mark Philippoussis actually looks like he is here on a mission.

Despite breaching protocol with his yellow outfit, the big Aussie looked very smooth in walloping his way past an unknown ? to him certainly ? Costa Rican seed.

Neither the bleachers nor the corporate boxes might have actually been full for his game, but enough women made enough noise to justify whatever fee he was paid to jet in here.

In advancing to the doubles quarter-finals the next night, however, the volume on centre court fell significantly due to a mixture of high winds, low temperatures, advancing time and the prospect of the players' party at the Deep ? the place was almost deserted by the time the Scud and partner Benjamin (Boom Boom) Becker clinched an enthralling super tie-break 11-9.

And there is much excitement left in a busy weekend of tennis, with the Champions Challenge taking place tonight ? with the rare addition of top females ? and the prospect of pretty much anyone clinching the singles crown.

As of Press time, six of eight seeds had been unceremoniously plucked from the tournament, the most exciting of the wildcards Mardy Fish and Philippoussis had played each other and thus removed one from the event ? now that truly would have been a good final ? and lesser known names were making an impact all over the place.

One of the first to book a quarter-final place was German Frank Moser, truly a beneficiary of the vagaries of ATP Tour rules.

Once American Vince Spadea, who was set to be highly seeded, pulled out with an injury sustained in Houston last week, one player from the third qualifying round was lucky enough to replace him.

Moser, seeded three in qualifying, was the highest ranked to lose in Sunday's matches and found himself in the draw as a 'lucky loser'.

He has now overtaken all the other qualifiers, including the one that beat him five days ago, and remains the only one left in the draw.

And there will be plenty backing him all the way. What a story that would make ? tournament winner after seven matches, only six of which he won.