yesterday at Coral Beach he finally got his reward.

The Bermuda Open defending champion from Argentina was trailing 2-1 in matches to the Western Australian, although they had never met before on the ATP Tour.

But Kilderry and Gumy had played three times as juniors in a period of four weeks, in Italy, at the French Open and at Wimbledon in 1990, with the stocky Kilderry emerging with the edge.

Yesterday it seemed as though Gumy, renowned for his ability to last the pace in matches of exceptional length, would have it relatively easy, racing into a 3-0 lead.

But Kilderry, expressing the relief of a man forced out of singles for more than 18 months by two knee operations, began to play with a certain joyful abandon, sending some rasping winners down forehand and backhand sides that left even the super-fit Gumy gasping for breath -- while missing with quite a few others.

The pair produced by far the best tennis seen so far in the tournament, as Kilderry managed a break back to make it 3-2 with a point to level. Gumy held his serve that time to maintain his advantage and he did so again in the eighth game despite the necessity for four deuces showing there was little to separate the two men.

At 3-5 down, Kilderry upped his serve to hold to love and then won his break point in the tenth with a stunning reaction volley when it seemed Gumy had only to pick his spot to pass.

Kilderry might have hoped to force a tie-break at that point but on his next service game he slipped to 15-30 with a double fault before playing his part in an incredible rally which might effectively have decided the match.

Whenever either player seemed to have done enough to have won the point, the other would outdo him with an even finer stroke. Finally, Kilderry appeared to have it under control with a smash wide to Gumy's backhand, but somehow the 6ft 2ins right hander stretched to produce a top spin winner that looped over the net and dropped at an astonishing angle into the only space Kilderry couldn't cover.

Gumy served out to win the crucial first set and broke just once, in the fourth game, to take the second set 6-3.

But there was no shortage of fun in that either and at one point Kilderry, finding the stretch of a 5ft 9ins man insufficient for a return, swapped his racquet to his left hand and almost pulled off a clever angled winner.

His watching doubles partner Patrick Rafter clearly enjoyed the attempt, bursting into a laugh and Gumy joined in the spirit of things, shaping to send his next service down left handed as well.

Kilderry, who certainly looked streets better than his singles ranking of 1107 would suggest, said afterwards: "I would love to play more singles but my ranking is terrible. I had a couple of knee operations and was out for 18 months.

"But in order to get it back up to somewhere in the 200s I would have to play a lot of small tournaments.

"To some extent I've tried to make a living out of playing doubles. I hope to play singles again, but I need to get in better shape. I heard that I was going to get a wild card here about eight weeks ago, and that gave me some incentive.

"I think that I have the potential but I need to be better physically.'' Gumy, too, was impressed by Kilderry, who left Australia on January 1 and doesn't expect to be back there until September as he takes on a number of tournaments aimed at improving that ranking.

As Kilderry underwent treatment for cramp in his hand following the game, the Argentinian sportingly congratulated him on his performance.

"He did well because I was really playing pretty solid,'' said Gumy, who played the longest game in French Open history last summer when he lost 9-7 to Alex Corretja in the fifth set of a five hour 31 minute marathon.

Pleased to be back at the site of his victory last year, he added: "I came here last year and won, everyone here is great and the place is like paradise, so I feel like I've come home.'' "All his shots were coming off, but I was playing well. That's why I didn't get crazy on the court and I think I played a pretty good match.'' Gumy is in the bottom half of the draw and is seeded to meet his old friend and compatriot Lucas Arnold in the quarter-finals in a repeat of last year's final, but he was taking nothing for granted.

"First I've got a pretty tough match in the second round against Karsten Braasch and he's an experienced player with a kind of weird game.''