Giant European Gilles Muller was the only seed to survive opening day at the XL Bermuda Open ? and he was forced to do it the hard way by tenacious teenager Scoville Jenkins.

The number two ranked player recovered from 4-2 down in the second set to beat the 19-year-old 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in an enthralling see-saw marathon.

For over more than two hours the gladiators battled gamely with Jenkins dominant in the first set before self-destructing to allow Muller to seize back control.

Visibly growing in confidence as the match went on, Muller took advantage of Jenkins' youthful eagerness in the latter stages to triumph on a windy evening of top-class tennis.

"I didn't play so good at first and he did play good," said a smiling Muller after a round of ballkid autographs.

"But he tried too hard to play quick points later in the game and tried to win too fast.

"I took advantage of this and knew I could come back and get it.

"I am far from playing my best tennis at the moment but it is nice to win and I hope to improve as the week goes on."

Last year Jenkins came here on a wildcard and made it through to the second round before his inexperience ? and eventual winner Tomas Zib ? got the better of him.

With the same armoury as last year, but with more control over his weapons of clay destruction, Jenkins looked to have a more complete game and appeared to be too much for his 6ft 5ins Luxembourg-born opponent.

A high ball toss set him up for a giant serve, while the youngster threw everything into penetrating groundstrokes that left his lanky foe scrambling for answers in the opener. Throw in some devious drops and the mobility and pace to reach his opponent's shortest efforts and you have a player who looks capable of following Andy Roddick's XL to glory road.

Jenkins rushed to a 4-0 first set lead and having got to 5-2 survived two break points and a couple of double faults to close out the set in around 30 minutes.

Muller, who has beaten Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi in his time, rallied in the second set, breaking back ? courtesy of a nasty netcord ? to 2-2.

Although the youngster pushed ahead to 4-2, his serve began to stray out too regularly and unforced errors crept in. He was becoming as erratic in the second as he had been deadly in the first.

Muller began to scrap back into a lead but a second serve ace at 15-30 and a line winner at set point, 30-40, kept Jenkins' nose in front. But the experienced Muller prevailed in the tiebreak, although it was only with his fifth set point he finally triumphed 7-5 after leading 5-1.

It was anyone's game going into the third set, both players breaking each other to reach 4-3 to Jenkins at which point ? with game time approaching two hours ? he received physio treatment for what looked like back pain.

Broken to love at 4-4, a despondent Jenkins cut a haggard figure by the end after being handed a lesson in how to progress through tournaments by a more experienced opponent.

The teenager showed a boisterous centre court crowd he has the makings of a great player, but a great player still with a lot to learn.