Mardy Fish triumphed over Mark Philippoussis in the battle of the big guns at the XL Bermuda Open last night, dispatching the former world number eight in three high-quality sets, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

As a Challenger Series event, the Bermuda Open has rarely witnessed a match-up of such magnitude and, disappointingly, the spectator turn-out did not do justice to the occasion.

While the bleachers on both sides of the court at Coral Beach were about three-quarters full, the corporate area on the southern bank was sparsely populated as usual, with those meant to be sitting in the scores of empty white seats either choosing not to show or preferring to gorge themselves in the club dining room.

It was their loss, however, as they were absent for a hugely entertaining encounter featuring two big-serving players on a surface which is far from their favourite.

Resplendent in white after being allowed to play in a bright yellow T-shirt by tournament organisers during his first round victory, Philippoussis began tentatively, struggling to find his range from the baseline and making a worryingly high number of unforced errors. Armed with such a big serve though, he was very rarely in danger of being broken, even if he was struggling to make much of an impression on Fish?s powerful serve either.

Predictably, the set went down to a tiebreak, with the big Aussie suddenly upping the tempo to force three consecutive errors from Fish who was caught completely off guard by the ferocity of his opponent?s groundstrokes.

He certainly did his best to fight back from a 4-1 deficit, but ultimately succumbed 4-7 to give Philippoussis first blood.

With the time gone 8.30, the wind began to pick up and it was then that Philippoussis? previously unbreakable serve began to go awry as he lost his next three out four service games to go down 4-6 in the second.

As a big man who serves and volleys with aplomb on both grass and hard courts, clay has never been Philippoussis? cup of tea ? a fact made all the more obvious by his struggles from the baseline where he looked uncomfortable and tentative, particularly when Fish began returning a lot more of his serves.

And the pressure clearly got to him at the beginning of the third, as his usually calm and unflappable demeanour was quickly replaced by an almost constant scowl and frequent shouts of anguish in Greek.

Fish, meanwhile, was playing beautifully, moving well around the court and forcing his opponent to play a lot of balls from well behind the baseline.

At 5-2 up, Fish appeared to be comfortably in control of proceedings before he had his serve broken for only the second time in the match to let Philippoussis back in ? prompting screams of encouragement from many females in the crowd desperate to see their heartthrob mount a spectacular comeback.

Fish had other ideas, however, and when forced to serve out the match at 5-4, he came up with the goods to book his place in the quarter-finals.

?All the hard work I put in the off-season is now beginning to pay off,? said Fish afterwards. ?I played well last week and that seems to be continuing here, even though I am not as happy on clay as I am on the grass and I am certainly looking forward to the grass court season in a few months time.

?But tonight was a big win for me and it always does the confidence a lot of good to beat somebody of Mark?s class.

?He played very well in the tiebreak to take the first set, but in the second I concentrated on making sure I got a few more returns back and forced him to play from the baseline which he does not enjoy doing.

?I know I?ve been doing well lately and even though I feel like I?m playing some good tennis, winning the tournament has not even entered my head at this stage.

?There are a lot of very good players in the draw and it is possible to come unstuck against anybody.?

Fish now moves on to play Spaniard Oscar Hernandez in today?s quarter-finals.