the ranks of world professional tennis in front of a home crowd today.

But he refused to get carried away about his chances of becoming the first home player in seven years of the Bermuda Open to get through the qualifying rounds and into the first round proper.

In last year's tournament at Coral Beach, Mallory played aggressively against Mashiska Washington, before going down 6-0, 6-3.

But two years ago, the Belco employee gave the then world number 256 player David Caldwell of the US, the fright of his life.

Caldwell won the first set 6-3, but Mallory took the second set to a tiebreaker, before losing 7-6.

Mallory's superb performance in the Davis Cup in Trinidad last month, when he won four of his five singles rubbers, marked him out as Bermuda's best hope of springing an upset in the Open. But the 33-year-old remained cool about his chances.

"Realistically, we are not supposed to win any games against these guys -- basically we are part-time players and they make their living from playing all the time,'' said Mallory.

"My main target is to take a set off one of the Tour guys. I came pretty close to doing that two years ago.'' On two days of this week, Mallory has spent time knocking up with one of the overseas stars who will be out to win the title and the $14,000 first prize, Marcelo Charpentier.

The Argentinian became a crowd favourite at the Open last year, when he dyed his hair purple and reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to compatriot Lucas Arnold.

"Marcelo arrived here early and needed someone to hit with and he asked me,'' said Mallory.

"I thought I hit a hard forehand topspin shot until I saw him. He really cracks the ball hard.'' Mallory will relish a rare chance to perform in front of home supporters, who will get free admission to watch the qualifiers at Coral Beach today and tomorrow.

"Having a home crowd behind you really helps. This is the biggest event Bermuda has and it's always great to see local people coming out to watch tennis. It's too bad we can't have another tournament like it at another time in the year.'' Ricky Mallory