The only two seeds in action at the XL Bermuda Open came undone on a windy, drizzly opening day at Coral Beach yesterday.

Fourth seed Albert Montanes ? conqueror of Robby Ginepri in Texas last week ? blew two match points before pulling out with a back injury against fellow Spaniard Oscar Hernandez while Romanian sixth seed Razvan Sabau was put to the sword by qualifier Michael Russell.

American Russell, who will always be remembered as the man who had match points for a place in the French Open semi-finals in 2001, made light work of the heavyset Sabau, who earned the same number of games as did local wildcard qualifier Andy Bray against the same opponent on Saturday.

With a blustery wind blowing all around the Coral Beach centre court, Montanes was dominating proceedings against the petulant Hernandez in the second match of the day. In a baseline slugfest, the seed took the opener 6-4 and appeared to be well on his way to the second round when back problems hindered him at 30-15, 5-3 up in the second.

Despite the best efforts of the trainer, Montanes was unable to continue where he had left off and his lack of mobility contributed to the failure to make the most of match points at both 5-3 and 5-4.

Hernandez fought his way back to a tie-break while Montanes was now offering only a limited-power serve. And once the older Spaniard had claimed the set 7-6, the seed threw in the towel and despite Hernandez' earlier histrionics and apparent disillusionment with his own game, he was now in the second round.

In the final singles game of the day session, a dispirited and lethargic Sabau was no match for the effervescence of a fired up Russell.

The XL regular offered up a delightful mixture of dainty drops and cut-throat volleys as well as some draining groundstrokes to push into the second round.

With the Romanian former world number 74 looking like he'd rather be elsewhere, Russell hit winners at will to claim the first set 6-0 and then broke Sabau to love to move 3-1 up in the second.

Playing with an apparent 'I don't care attitude', Sabau made a mockery of his ranking and seeding to whimper out of the tournament 6-1 in the second after a rather pathetic showing.

Russell, who will now play Alex Bogomolov jr in the second round, will be feeling remarkably fresh despite having already played three matches in three days.

In other games, German Frank Moser made the most of his lucky loser status to extend his time in the main draw. Despite losing in third round qualifying, Moser replaced the injured Vince Spadea in the first round proper before disposing of Australia's Nathan Healy 1-6, 7-6 (11), 6-4.

In a marathon opener to the tournament, Bogomolov took more than two and a half hours ? which included a pair of rain delays ? to dispose of Argentinian qualifier Gustavo Marcaccio.

Montanes' withdrawal also affected the doubles, with the seed letting down partner and fellow countryman Fernando Vicente to give Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro and Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica a place in the second round.