others of temper as he survived to take his place in the semi-finals of the Bermuda Open after outlasting Jared Palmer 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 last night.

When he deposited a smash into the front row of the posh boxes, sending a lady's drink crashing, he was quick to show his support for those on the Island who back zero tolerance, shouting out: "Don't drink and drive.'' But when some of his forehand and backhand drives didn't quite hit the mark, there were displays of petulance that involved battering his racquet against the ground and the back of the court.

However, all that should not detract from a fine game of tennis, in which Jared Palmer played a full part.

Palmer may reflect afterwards that the draw has not been incredibly kind to him, matching him in the second round a day earlier with Gumy's Argentinian friend and last year's losing finalist Lucas Arnold.

The New Yorker had come through that one with flying colours and he was in no mood to give up a potential place in the last four to the title holder.

In fact the very first game of the tie gave a taste of what was to come as Gumy looked sharp and Palmer looked sharper still.

Palmer held on to that despite a break point against him and while Gumy's serve looked on song first time out, Palmer broke his next one after two unforced errors from the number three seed.

Gumy broke straight back and again in the seventh game and finally collected on two set points with an excellent lob and a fine cross-court forehand.

Gumy survived a ten-minute service game which included six deuces to start the second set, but Palmer then broke him twice for a 4-1 lead. Gumy pulled back one of those but Palmer remained solid to clinch the second set 6-4.

Both players failed to convert break points on each other's serve at the start of the third but finally Gumy gained the upper hand running off five games in a row to set up a match against Nicolas Massu.

Later Patrick Rafter and Paul Kilderry delighted the crowd as they dismissed Andrew Painter and Maurice Ruah 6-4, 6-4 in an entertaining match closer than the final score suggests.