Rising stars from Eastern Europe will be out to make an impression on the Bermuda Open this year.

No fewer than four regular players hailing from the eastern bloc who have been making their living primarily on the Challenger circuit will be in the main draw of the tournament for the first time.

Tomas Zib and Jiri Vanek, of the Czech Republic, are joined by Razvan Sabau, of Romania and Nenad Zimonjic from Yugoslavia.

Zib, a 23-year-old resident of Prague, ended last year ranked 140 in the world and at one point went to an all-time high of 138, while Vanek, who won't be 21 for another two weeks, improved from a high of 306 at the end of 1997 to 161 by the end of last month.

Sabau, 21, who divides his time between his birthplace of Bucharest and Paris, had a highest singles ranking in July, 1997, of 127 but dropped back last year to finish at 193. And he has failed to advance past the last 16 in his five tournaments to date in 1999.

That recent form will have been a disappointment for a man who has already notched up career earnings of more than $150,000, and whose top performance last year came when he reached the semi-finals in Napoli.

He lost to eventual champion David Sanguinetti of Italy, but beat Sebastian Grosjean, the Frenchman who toppled Carlos Moya from his brief stay in the number one spot with his thrilling win in the Lipton Championship, in the quarter-finals.

Zimonjic, though, is the most improved of the lot, the six foot three right hander lifting his season-ending ranking of 500 in 1997 to 176 at the end of March, although he has since dropped back to 197.

Last year was the first year that the 22-year-old began to make a significant impression on the game after turning pro in 1994 at the age of 18. A total of $28,000 of his career prize winnings of $32,790 to the end of last year came in 1998.

And he has picked up a further $20,500 in the first three months of this year, mainly on the back of a fine doubles performance on the ATP Tour in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he partnered New Yorker Jared Palmer, another Bermuda Open contestant, to the semi-finals.

There they lost to the American pairing of Justin Gimelstob and Richey Reneberg; the latter won last year's doubles title here with Doug Flach, and the duo are likely to team up again to defend their championship.