Bigger names could be competing for next year's XL Capital Bermuda Open if organisers succeed in getting the tournament upgraded.

Tournament director Alec Anderson said yesterday that early moves towards raising the status of the event from a Challenger to a fully fledged ATP Tour event were underway.

With the Tour set to lose one of its few clay-court events in North America next year and several players prepared to support Bermuda's case, hopes of an upgrade are high.

If the ATP were to sanction the proposal, the tournament would offer more Tour points and hence attract more players from the top 50.

But to make that reality, Anderson said prize money would need to be at least doubled from the current $100,000.

To attract the likes of tennis superstars Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras would, however, require significantly more money.

When asked for their opinion of the tournament this week, several players said they believed Bermuda was "one of the best Challenger events in the world''.

The comments of American James Blake were typical. Blake, who reached the second round before losing to eventual winner Jose Acasuso, said: "It's a great tournament. I'd love to keep coming back here.

"They have unbelievable facilities, the tournament director Alec Anderson does a great job, the staff do a great job -- you can't really ask for much better than this. It's more like a Tour event and the higher end of the Tour events at that.'' Anderson was hopeful that such opinions would lend weight to Bermuda's claims for full Tour event status.

"We have been talking about it (an upgrade) this week and we know that a number of players, including the Bryan brothers and one or two of the other Americans will give their views on the tournament to the ATP Tour Players' Council,'' said Anderson.

The Open is played on the clay courts at Coral Beach, unlike most tournaments in the US, which are played on hard courts. And Anderson felt the imminent loss of one of the States' few clay events could open the door for Bermuda.

"I think the clay-court tournament which takes place in Atlanta this week will not be on clay next year,'' said Anderson. "I think they intend to play it on hard courts and move it to August.

"That would mean that Houston would be the only clay tournament on the ATP calendar on the North American side of the Atlantic.'' The Open was an ATP Tour event in the mid-'90s when the tournament was owned by the US Tennis Association.

"After two years, the USTA did not really want to keep it in Bermuda, they wanted to move it back to the US,'' said Anderson.

"The criteria for an ATP tournament were different. They wanted at least 18,000 spectators during the week and we were at about 12,000. We were never going to meet that.

"Now I think we would be able to get around that, because I think the criteria are not so stringent. At some of the bigger events in the Middle East, for example, they get hardly anyone watching during the day.'' Final figures have not yet been calculated for attendances last week, but Anderson was hoping for a total of around 10,000.

An upgraded tournament would mean two major changes, said Anderson.

"One, we would need more prize money, at least $200,000 to $250,000,'' he said. "It would depend on XL and other sponsors and whether they wanted to do it.

"Two, we would get a slightly improved field. We would probably get 10 players from the top 50 and one or two bigger names. But to get a really famous player, like Agassi or Sampras -- they don't usually play unless they are paid quite a lot to come.'' As for the possibility of holding a women's pro tournament here, Anderson, who spends much of his spare time during the year planning for the Open, said: "It's just a question of time, effort and money -- and I don't know if I'd have enough to do it.

"And to run a women's tournament the same week as the Open would be difficult, because there would be many more matches and we would need to find a lot more money.''