More than an hour after wasting his first match point, Martin Vassallo Arguello finally put an end to Bjorn Rehnquist's XL Open at the third attempt.

The first singles match on the first day of the main draw more than lived up to pre-tournament expectations as the Italian and the Swede battled for more than three hours for a place in the second round.

The sixth seed, an Argentinian-born Italian, admitted afterwards he was lucky to get a second bite of the cherry after failing to make the most of match point at 5-4 in the second set after winning the first 7-5.

The 23-year-old, on his first visit to Bermuda, allowed Rehnquist back into the game, with the 26-year-old Scandinavian benefiting from a willingness to break the baseline rallies and venture forward, triumphing 7-2 in the tie-break.

But it was Vassallo Arguello - who can expect a rough ride in the next round against the winner of Alexander Peya and American Brian Vahaly match - who battled to victory 6-4 in the final set, but only after wasting another match point.

“I was lucky because you don't always get another chance,” he told The Royal Gazette afterwards.

“It was a long, hard game because we both like to stay at the baseline and we both had to run a lot.

“I am happy but I have to make sure I take my match points next time.”

The other seed playing yesterday, Kenneth Carlsen, had a shorter, smoother ride although he also admitted to feeling lucky in his tie with American Alex Kim.

The rather agricultural first set went to a tie-break, in which the Dane won to two points before he overpowered the enthusiastic Kim 6-1 in the second.

“It wasn't a good first set, both of us were trying to remember how to play on clay,” said Carlsen, who suffered the ignominy of a first-round defeat last year when seeded one.

“I was lucky to win it but in the second I was getting a lot more first serves in and that helped me - while his serves stayed the same.

“I know it will be tough for me in the next round as clay is not my favourite surface, I prefer hard courts, but I will go and do my best - I want to try and make up for the disappointment of last year. It is not funny going out in the first round when you are seeded one.”

In the evening session, a player of the future more than justified his wildcard, putting in an awesome display of power hitting and touch.

The 19-year-old Frank Dancevic, ranked only 211 in the world, was handed a place in the main draw due to his success on the ‘Futures' circuit and his performance, albeit a little raw, has given Bermuda tennis fans a glimpse of what could be the next Andy Roddick or Lleyton Hewitt.

Capable of producing winners from almost any spot on the court, the Niagara Falls-born youngster is clearly an exceptionally-talented youngster.

As he progresses in the game he will need to rid himself of the unforced errors and over-elaborate attempts at winners, but his devastating mixture of rocketing groundstrokes, soft touch around the net and damaging serve more than make up for that for now.

His 6-3, 6-1 victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber contained more than the usual number of ‘oohs' and ‘aahs' and the only thing the crowd missed out on was a longer match.

How he fares in the next round, where he takes on the winner of number one seed Luis Horna and Sebastien De Chaunac will decide how far the youngster still has to go before he becomes a household name.

“I was feeling the ball pretty well out there,” said Dancevic, who beat James Blake two weeks ago to claim his biggest scalp to date.

“I don't really feel any pressure, I just go out there and do what I have to do and see what happens.

“I have played in Challengers before and there are some pretty tough guys out there, you just have to do what you can.”

In the other singles matches of the day, perennial semi-finalist Franco Squillari won the battle of Argentina, beating compatriot Federico Browne 6-1, 6-2 while Norwegian Jan Frode Andesen beat Tomas Zib 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.