Flamboyant Argentine Sergio Roitman sent the number one seed in the XL Capital Bermuda Open, Kenneth Carlsen, packing in a display full of passion and heart.

Roitman won the contest in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to earn a place in the second round at Coral Beach last night.

Having won the opening set relatively comfortably, Roitman lost the second but not before fighting back from 5-1 down.

Though the scores were level, the momentum was more with the Argentine than the Dane in the decider and he was able to secure victory at a canter, producing some breathtaking drop shots and devastating forehand winners along the way.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” said Roitman. “This guy is the number one seed and has had enormous results in big tournaments.

“But I started with a great deal of concentration. I knew that clay courts were not his number one surface and I tried to take advantage of that and it went very well.”

Carlsen complained about the standard of the balls to ATP supervisor Ed Hardisty afterwards, but although he did have something of a case, to concentrate on that issue would do his opponent a disservice.

Quite simply, Roitman produced some sublime shots shots that on occasions even had Carlsen wondering how he was able to make them.

Afterwards though, the eventual victor told how he was constantly battling with his mind.

“I knew if I lost my concentration for just ten minutes I would lose a set,” he said. “That happened in the second one - I lost a little of focus and he took advantage and was 5-2 up in three minutes!

“So I tried to motivate myself to keep going and eventually I was able to play much better in the third set.”

Roitman said the result had given him tremendous self-belief.

“It gives me a lot of confidence,” he said. “The first couple of rounds are always tough, whoever the guy is. But, right now, I think I can play a little bit better in the next one.”

Carlsen said afterwards that the ATP had a policy whereby on hard courts the balls should be slower and on clay, a little faster. He did not feel this to be the case last night.

“These balls are as slow or even slower than the balls we play with on hard courts,” he said. “I don't think it should be that way.”

Carlsen said people should look at the conditions and his lack of preparation on the surface before asking why the top seed was no longer there.

“I don't play much on clay and, for me, to try and run and play on it is a tough thing. It takes normally a couple of weeks for me to feel comfortable,” he said. “I thought I played pretty well at times during the match, but I also thought he was playing well and played some good forehands.

“I can't say that I played bad, considering it's my first clay court match. He has probably played a lot more than me and so I knew it was going to be tough.

“There is room for improvement for sure, but this is the first clay court tournament for me. I only practised for five or six days, I was hoping to play matches and play myself into it but . . . “ he concluded shrugging his shoulders.

Earlier in the day, one of the tournament's biggest names, Todd Martin, of the USA, eased his way into the second round.

Martin, a two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, beat Israel's Noam Okun in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 in a match delayed by an earlier marathon contest.

Key to Martin's victory was the grip he took on the match at the beginning of both sets, forging 3-0 leads that always had his rival facing an uphill task.

“Especially on a day when you wait around a long time, and we had a real long wait, it's real important to be as into it as you can right from the get-go and today I was,” he said. “I think it helped that it was my first match on the clay, I sort of had that nervousness about how that adjustment is going to happen, so I think I was little bit more focused today than I maybe would have been under normal circumstances.”

Martin said he felt the best part of his game was his serve.

“The conditions here are slower than most green clay courts and I didn't do everything exactly as I wanted to but I really served well, which I find difficult on the clay typically,” he said. “I did feel comfortable moving on the court, made some good plays and, most importantly, when I most needed to, at the beginning of both sets and at the end of the first one, I was real solid and made him hit a lot of errors.”

While Martin's match was ongoing, last year's champion, Flavio Saretta of Brazil, was involved in a real tussle with French qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac.

Saretta lost the opening set 6-1, won the second in a tiebreak 7-6 (8) and then overwhelmed his opponent in the decider 6-3 to continue his quest to retain the title.