They say a bad worker always blames his tools but Irakli Labadze took this to extremes yesterday.

While crashing out 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to Brian Vahaly of the USA in first round action at the XL Capital Bermuda Open, the Georgian not only blamed his racquet but cursed it, remonstrated with it and even, at times, attempted to cajole it.

But it all proved to little effect, Labadze throwing the match as much as his opponent won it with error after unforced error.

His racquet was not alone in tasting his tongue, for he shouted at himself, hurled a ball out of the stadium and appeared to spit in the direction of the clay surface on one occasion. For a man of faith such as former church minister Vahaly it must have been disconcerting to say the least!

Things started to go badly from the off for Labadze, the player handing Vahaly a break of serve in the opening game and never managing to recover.

Simply put, he was guilty of far too many mistakes. His five double faults in the opening set were just the beginning of his troubles. After going down 6-4 he screamed `Racquet!' in the direction of the stringer's office and was promptly handed another.

At first it seemed to do the trick and helped by some bad shots from Vahaly, Labadze was able to draw level, breaking his rival three times on the way to a 6-4 win.

But Dr. Jeckyl replaced Mr. Hyde in the deciding set, Vahaly breaking in the first game and never really looking in trouble from then on.

At the end of the fifth game, where Vahaly broke for the third time, Labadze threw his racquet to the ground and then proceeded to kick it all the way to his chair. He may as well have kicked it all the way to the airport for two games later after a fourth break of serve it was all over.Labadze left the court, his head hanging low, and so it was down to Vahaly to account for the way things played out.

"It was an ugly match today," he said in what was somewhat of an understatement. "He didn't play very well. I didn't play very well.

"It's the beginning of the season on clay so you can't expect much and the wind didn't help any.

"I was trying to figure out ways to win and, at this point, pull out anything I could."

Towards the end, Labadze began examining his elbow and Vahaly felt this contributed to his capitulation.

"I was fortunate at the end that he had an injury problem which helped me out in the third set," he said. "But it was tough, neither one of us played well. It was very, very frustrating to play, but also a test of patience to try and keep your mouth shut and just concentrate and figure out ways to win points.

"You just couldn't rely on the same shots you hit before and you can't rely on the bounce like you can on hard courts. There are a lot of things that are tough. It's a learning experience, we are all trying to get ready for Roland Garros (French Open) and so it was a good start, though not great tennis."