Day three proper was not kind to veterans competing in the XL Capital Bermuda Open at Coral Beach Club, as youth triumphed over experience.

Thirty-four year-old Richey Reneberg and Ronald Agenor, 35, were each shown the gate by players at least 10 years their junior during the day session dominated by sweltering heat and often sizzling on-court action.

Playing on centre court in what may be his singles swan-song, American Reneberg showed great courage and determination -- and a not too small dose of quality serve-and-volley tennis -- yet was outgunned by up-and-comer and fourth seed Andre Sa of Brazil in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.

On Tuesday, in a Royal Gazette exclusive, Reneberg hinted at the possibility of this being his final singles tournament and, if so, he made certain of leaving every ounce of energy on the green clay.

"It's getting a little hard to compete with these guys, they're too good, too young and have a lot more energy than I do,'' said Reneberg, relaxing in the perfect spot -- by the pool -- following the match.

"You never know, my wife is having our second child, I'm 34 and it's not as if I haven't been playing for a while. So I'm kind of leaning towards just playing doubles. Alec (Anderson) was kind enough to give me a wildcard and it's been fun.'' Certainly the match stood out as one of the best thus far, especially during the second set, where both Sa and Reneberg found it difficult to hold serve.

Each surrendered four service games, sending the set to a decisive tiebreaker.

There Reneberg finally found the muster to hold for a 7-5 triumph, but in winning the battle used up whatever ammunition he had left.

Conversely, Sa rebounded from the setback, breaking the Atlanta resident three consecutive times to start the third before serving out the match.

"I felt pretty good. I was hitting the ball great to start out with and then he stepped it up in the second set. I thought I had him there, serving twice for the match, but he was returning unbelievable,'' said 23 year-old Sa, whose game appears startlingly reminiscent of another Brazilian, Gustavo Kuerten, graceful and fluid, yet deadly.

In the end however Sa found effective counters to Reneberg's array of drop shots and net forays, those coming in the form of well timed -- and placed -- topspin lobs and pin-point passing shots.

Sa thus enters the round of eight, with Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic standing in the way. And Sa was optimistic of his chances of advancing even further.

"Sure I feel capable of winning. I'm in the quarter-finals now and from here on anything can happen. You have to play and hope to win. I'm ready.'' Earlier sixth seed Agenor found himself on the outside looking in after 20-year-old Tabara bounced him from the list of survivors in rapid fashion, running out a 6-3, 6-3 winner.

Continued on page 23 Youngsters come out on top in Open Continued from page 21 The short, powerfully built Czech never allowed his more senior opponent to settle into a rhythm. His plan was simple, slow the game down, keep the ball in play and allow the opponent to make mistakes and Agenor fell into the trap.

"Today the key for me was the ball was very hard and doesn't fly, which was to my advantage and it was my tactic today,'' explained Tabara, who has taken to the Bermudian tradition of fishing off the rocks when away from the courts.

"He likes to play fast, like boom, boom, boom, so I played more upstairs and used a lot of spins to slow him down.'' Agenor admitted to having made too many mistakes against a player who just didn't commit any errors.

"I never really got into the match. I made a lot of winners, but I made a lot of mistakes too,'' said Agenor, hailing from Haiti.

Agenor jokingly spread some of the blame to beautiful fiance and coach Tonya Williams, who was left to console her future husband as they sat on a bench outside the men's showers.

"She should be blamed for the loss today -- she gave me the wrong strategy,'' he said of Williams, a model from Los Angeles.

The other early singles match saw Agustin Calleri of Argentina ease past Germany's Markus Hantschk 6-3, 6-2.

Meanwhile, in daytime doubles third seeds Mariano Hood and Sebastien Prieto needed three sets to defeat Giorgio Galimberti and Jum Thomas 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, while a marathon ensued between the tandems of Jan Robicaud and Michael Sell, and Michael Kohlman and Lorenzo Manta, with the former eventually running out 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) winners.