Not to worry, the 24-year-old isn't taking offence to the handle. After all, this is the accepted term for a player knocked out in the qualifying round who gets a second chance at the main draw as an alternate.

In fact, Morejon seems to be quite relishing it, first separating number three seed Sandon Stolle from his shades on Wednesday and yesterday pounding dark horse Mariano Zabaleta into the green clay of the XL Bermuda Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Now the kid from Ecuador, ranked 197th in the world and a loser to the 381st-ranked player in the qualifying round, is suddenly the story of the $125,000 event.

He only got in when Filip Dewulf pulled out on Tuesday with an ankle injury suffered in Belgium's Davis Cup victory over Denmark.

"I had started to practise the same day (as he lost to Sebastian Prieto), just hoping to get a chance,'' said Morejon, automatically deemed the Lucky Loser on the basis of rankings among the four players who lost in the last round of qualifying. "I had heard talk that I might be playing but I didn't find out for sure until Tuesday.'' Morejon might be a relative unknown to the average fan but he's seen as somewhat of a giant killer on the tour.

He has now beaten eight top 100 players this year -- including number 98 Zabaleta yesterday -- and had two victories over top 20 players -- defending XL Bermuda Open champion MaliVai Washington and Alberto Berasategui -- to his credit a year ago.

"I feel much more comfortable against players who are ahead of me,'' said Morejon.

"Against top 60 players I feel very confident and on clay I feel I can beat anybody.'' Morejon is not so much boasting as expressing the sentiments of any professional. "The thing is, you have to believe in your game,'' he said.

Morejon has, ever since he started playing at age 11. He lost in the qualifying round of his very first tournament three weeks later -- then exactly a year after that advanced to the final of the same tournament.

And last September, he reached a personal best number 121 in the rankings before slipping.

Ironically, another Ecuadorean is a quarter-finalist here. Nicolas Lapentti, a doubles semi-finalist at the Bermuda Open as a 19-year-old last year, is currently ranked 116th.

The pair share more than the same homeland. Lapentti's coach last year, Viver Raul, now works with Morejon.