Resurfacing work has started on the courts which host the Island's top annual international tennis tournament, the Bermuda Open.

Four of the green clay courts at the Coral Beach Club -- including the main show court for the Open -- have been dug up and new drains are being installed.

And they will be ready for April's ATP Challenger tournament which annually attracts some of the world's top 150 male players.

Coral Beach pro Derek Singleton said: "The surface of the courts here has always been excellent, but we just feel the time is right to resurface them.

"We have been thinking about doing this for a number of years and we are making a considerable investment on behalf of our members,'' added Singleton, who could not reveal the cost of the project.

The work is being carried out on the lower level courts, which members will be unable to use for some two months.

The start of last year's Bermuda Open final was delayed for six hours by two heavy downpours and the time needed for water to drain away and for the court surface to dry.

Singleton said the new drainage being put in by Island Engineering should improve matters.

"We have exisiting drains on the north side of the court, but we will be putting in seven extra drains just below the surface and we hope they will get rid of excess surface water.'' Meanwhile the dates for this year's Open have been confirmed as April 24 to 30. Qualifying matches will take place over the Easter weekend before the first round proper starts on Monday, April 24.

Organisers are currently working to sign up players for the tournament, which has been won by Argentine Hernan Gumy for the past two years.

In the past, no players from the top 10 of the ATP Tour rankings have been eligible to play in Challenger tournaments.

But this year's changes to the rankings system -- with everyone starting on zero points instead of the replaced system which took the previous year's results into account -- could complicate matters.

In theory, it could lead to top players who have missed out on tournaments and points through injury being eligible to play in Bermuda, because of their lowly ranking.

But in practice, it is more likely that the organisers will invite players according to the 1999 end-of-year rankings, as the prize money and rankings points offered by the tournament would not make it attractive to top players anyway.

Whether Bermuda-based Australian Pat Rafter will be able to repeat his doubles appearance and exhibition singles match of last year is uncertain.

Rafter is playing again -- but only in doubles -- after recovering from a shoulder injury which forced him out of last September's US Open.

If he was still waiting to make a singles comeback when the Open came around, he might consider a low-profile tournament on his home ground an ideal stage to start over.

Another top draw at last year's tournament was Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, who started 1999 at number 92 in the rankings and ended it as the world number eight.

Lapentti, who yesterday beat Andrei Medvedev to progress to the second round of the Australian Open, reached the semi-finals at Coral Beach last year, but his current status as a top player means it is unlikely he will return.