Roy Allan Burch is hoping to knock a second off his personal best in the 100 metres freestyle time when he takes to the pool at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi early this morning.

The Bermuda swimmer has targeted the event as his best hope of success at the Games and was confident of making it through to the next round.

Both Burch and team-mate Nick Thomson compete in the 100 metres free and will also be in the 50 metres free qualifying heats on Friday.

The pair warmed up for today's event in the 50 metres butterfly yesterday, with both failing to make it out of their opening heats.

Bermuda's athletes will also take to the track for the first time today with Tre Manders' 100 metres heat scheduled to take place around mid-day Bermuda time.

Yesterday, though, belonged to their team-mate Kiera Aitken who reached the semi-finals of the women's 100 metres backstroke, after posting the 14th fastest time in qualifying. The female Athlete of the Year, swimming in lane two, finished fifth in her heat in a time of 1:04.82.

A slightly slower first 50m in the semi-final, where she hit the turn at 31.79, saw her finish seventh in 1:04.87, which wasn't enough to secure her a place in the final.

Burch is hoping to emulate Aitken and continue his good work in the pool.

"The butterfly was more of a warm-up event for me, I haven't really been training much for this event," he said yesterday. "It was basically to go through the routine of the Games and see how the marshalling area works and everything.

"But tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm really looking to put in a good performance and get through to the next round."

Burch spent time in Bermuda preparing for the Games with coach Ben Smith, and with physio Graig Brown in the gym, and believes that being in the best shape of his life will help him bring his time down.

"My best (freestyle) time is 51.6 seconds," said Burch. "I'm looking to be about around a second faster than that. I was able to put in a lot of time with Ben (Smith) before I left, and at the Olympic Club with Craig Brown.

"I feel that I'm in the best shape that I have ever been in and I'm definitely looking to improve on my event tomorrow, and have a great improvement on my event on Friday, and I'm feeling very confident in making it to the next round."

In yesterday's 50m butterfly qualifying, Burch swam a 26.51 but still finished seventh in a heat that was won by Australian Mitchell Patterson in 23.92 seconds.

Thomson, meanwhile, finished third in his heat, posting a time of 27.08, behind Swaziland's Luke Hall who won in a time of 26.67.

In tennis, the Lambert sisters Tara and Jacklyn had a day to forget. Tara was thrashed 6-0, 6-0 in her singles match by Heather Watson of Guernsey, while in the women's doubles, the sisters fared only marginally better, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Scottish duo Mhairi Brown and Jocelyn Rae.

"The matches have been tough but they have all been awesome experiences," said Tara. "Against Heather Watson I lost 6-0, 6-0 but the experience highlighted weaknesses that I need to strengthen, especially competing at this level.

"I was honestly nervous playing against such a quality player but will definitely remember the experience."

Jacklyn is in action again today, taking on New Zeland's Erakovic Marina in the second round of the women's singles, while Gavin Manders and David Thomas return to the court against Barbados duo Darian King and Haydn Lewis in the men's doubles.

Nick Kyme's Games are over. The Island's sole squash representative lost in the consolation round to Zambia's Kelvin Ndhlovu, 11-4, 9-11, 11-1, 11-4.

Commonwealth Games round-up – see Page16.