Patricia and Brian Birch, unseeded and virtually unknown, came within a whisker of pulling off the first major upset of the Argus Open when they pushed highly fancied third seeds Tara Lambert and Romar Douglas to the brink before the favourites squeezed out a straight sets 7-6(3), 6-4 victory at the WER Joell Stadium.

In what turned out to be one of the top matches of the day, Douglas and Lambert found themselves in a spot of trouble when they were unable to distance them from their lesser known opponents, being forced to fight, not only for every game, but for every point as well.

Meanwhile newcomers to the local tennis scene, Charmaine Thomas and Quaison Dey, received a not-so-Bermudaful welcome from fourth seeds Jacob Trott and Ashley Brooks, who breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

In singles action, second seed Sasha Fisher, playing in a major tournament for the first time in more than a year, did not take too long to reintroduce herself to the hard courts when she brushed aside the challenge of Elizabeth Hartley 6-2, 6-1 while Shade Subair had a `walkover? over Jane Minton.

Meanwhile Sam Maybury romped to a surprising straight sets victory over Sean O?Connell 6-0, 6-0, not allowing the ambidextrous O?Connell to get into the game.

On Court Two, next to Maybury and O?Connell was Blenn Bean who earned a straight sets victory over Anthony Butterfield, winning 6-1, 6-1.