squeezed the Charmin at his own peril.

His career could easily have ended just as it was just beginning when the 27-year-old German tore ligaments in his left ankle while playing soccer in October, 1989.

Sinner was seeded third at the XL Bermuda Open and a loser in his first-round match to compatriot Karsten Braasch on Tuesday.

But his ouster was certainly not the unkindest cut of all he's had to endure in his life.

Sinner is a testament to courage around Coral Beach this week, bravely fighting back from a series of painful surgical procedures. He's one of only seven players on the tour with more than one tournament victory this year.

The only reminder from those dark days is a compact ankle brace that he wears under his left sock.

Sinner attempted a comeback in January, 1990, but still had trouble moving on the court. After visiting a number of doctors he endured even more surgery in 1991.

There was an absence of nine more months and Sinner saw a new doctor and was immediately informed that one operation actually did more harm than good.

At one point he was even told that his ankle was completely destroyed and that his career was all but over.

One of the tour's remarkable comeback stories, Sinner this year has won titles at Copenhagen and in South Africa and in the process has improved his ranking from 139 (in January) to 50 in the latest rankings released on Monday.

He still thinks his best career win has come against Croat Goran Ivanisevic in 1990, but he never thought his second title would come so soon after the first.

His goal at the beginning of the year was simply to crack the top 100. Now he'd like to be in the top 30 by year's end. Could the top 10 be far behind? GRANT CONNELL , although keenly intense on the court, is one of those players who always seem to compete with a twinkle in his eye.

On Tuesday night he teamed up with Todd Martin in an exciting doubles match, a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over South Africans Ellis Ferreira and Brent Haygarth .

Earlier in the week Martin jokingly told The Royal Gazette that he's a good friend of Connell's even though Connell's Canadian.

"I've got to slam him for that Canadian remark that he made,'' Connell said with a snicker following a one-hour workout yesterday.

Surprisingly, Martin is only the fifth partner Connell has played with during the last nine years, but they looked as if they've played together for years.

"It was a lot of fun,'' said Connell, who called the first set a learning experience for both players. "Very much so. Everybody's so solid in the doubles, but I think what really got us through is he was so much more powerful than everyone else out there. His second shots were really intimidating and his return serve was really intimdating, so we were able to win a few big points in the breaker.'' THE MORNING AFTER his big win over Mats Wilander , Sweden's Christian Bergstrom was stretching his right shoulder with some help from Lars Jonsson and a rope tied around a deck chair.

Bergstrom is on the mend from shoulder surgery and even though his win on Tuesday night was only his first of the year he's had plenty to smile about in 1995. He's a newlywed and there's a baby on the way this summer. Everyone is now wondering if he'll call the baby Mats if it's a boy.

"You know, we've played in thousands of tournaments together, but it has always seemed he's playing in the final and I'm usually out by the second round.'' Bergstrom is currently ranked 132 and looked sharp in the first set against Wilander but seemed to tire easily in the second.

"Yeah, I was happy to win it in two,'' he said. "I think I played very well in the first set, but then I got a little bit defensive and (Wilander) dictated play just the way he wanted. He's a good counter-puncher, but I was a little bit afraid of his passing shots.'' With Bergstrom now on the mend he's proven, on Tuesday night at least, that he's no longer a passing shot on the tour.

Mats Wilander , coming into the Open ranked 96th, looked weary after his opening round loss, convinced that if the match would have gone to three sets he would have had "a much better chance.

"He just wasn't passing as well, lobbing as well in the second set.'' Rewinding the videotape in the memorybook of his mind Wilander added: "I think maybe I was rushing it a bit. I came in on some pretty good approach shots but he hit unbelievable passing shots and lobs and eventually forced me into making more mistakes. That's because you have to put a little extra under your approach and you have to kind of step toward one side when you get to the net. If you don't do that he's going to hit over you or next to you within inches of the line.'' It was the end of the line for Wilander in Bermuda, although he was planning to spend a few extra days on the Island.

QUALIFYING WHIZ Kenny Thorne quickly became a crowd favourite during another gutsy performance, this time against Todd Martin on Tuesday.

"Yeah that was nice,'' he said of the response from local fans. "But it doesn't do anything for my ranking.'' ONE OF THE improvements from this year's USTA event compared to the Challenger 16 months ago is a computerised scoreboard, efficiently operated by Raymond Greene and Patrick Pearson . The pair work for IDS Technologies Inc., a firm from Jacksonville, Florida.

The computer programme has been used for equestrian, volleyball and NBA events so Green and Pearson are frequently on the road.

New York Knicks head coach Pat Riley is a staunch advocate of the programme which keeps track of a myriad of statistics.

YESTERDAY'S STADIUM court match featuring Bryan Shelton and Bohdan Ulihrach was the shortest of the tournament so far lasting just 57 minutes.

Javier Frana quickly disposed of Karim Alami in one hour and one minute yesterday, making it the second speediest match.

Thus far the longest match of the Open so far was yesterday's exciting comeback by Jamie Morgan over Radomir Vasek .

That match lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

KARIM ALAMI -- Went down in quick time to Javier Frana yesterday at Coral Beach