Tennis Classic, scheduled for December 6-12 at Coral Beach & Tennis Club.

The two players are the first to officially agree to play in the inaugural event, which is part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and will feature some of the world's best men ranked in the top 100.

Krickstein, 25, lost to Henri Leconte in the third round at Wimbledon and is currently ranked 76th in the world. The native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, won the singles title at the South African Open in January when he defeated Grant Stafford of South Africa for the ninth singles title of his career. In February, 1990, Krickstein was ranked sixth in the ATP Tour, his highest ranking ever.

Connell, 27, is a native of North Vancouver, Canada, and has five doubles titles to his credit. A member of the Canadian Davis Cup team, Connell reached the doubles finals at Wimbledon a few weeks ago when -- teaming up with American Patrick Galbraith -- the pair lost to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia.

He is currently ranked 299th in the world in singles competition but is 13th in doubles play. In January he won the Benson and Hedges Open in Auckland, New Zealand, with Galbraith. His first doubles title came in 1988 at a ATP tournament in Livingston, New Jersey.

HANDS ON -- Tournament director Alec Anderson, left, welcomes aboard Brian O'Hara, the president and CEO of XL Insurance Co., Ltd. yesterday while Jim Ansaldi, the senior vice-president of Marketing looks on. XL Insurance signed on last week as the major sponsor for the ATP Challenger event which takes place in December.