Bermuda's men's tennis team suffered the pain of Davis Cup relegation on Saturday, after they crumbled to a 3-0 defeat to Honduras in a dogfight for survival in Havana.

Victory would have meant consolidation of their American Zone Group Three place, but the defeat signalled an immediate return to Group Four, from which the Island won promotion last year.

It was the fourth loss in four days for Bermuda, after previous defeats to Cuba, Jamaica and Bolivia, and left them with only pride to play for in yesterday's play-off for seventh and eighth place (see story this page).

However hard they fought through the tournament, the Bermuda foursome proved unable to reach the level of more consistent and more rigorously prepared opponents.

James Collieson showed great character even to complete his singles match against Honduras, as he struggled through the last two sets hampered by extreme exhaustion in a 4-2, 4-5, 4-0, 4-1 defeat by Carlton Alvarez.

Donald Evans also went down in four sets, 5-4, 1-4, 4-2, 4-1 to Carlos Caceres, in a match in which he let the Honduran off the hook in the first set.

The two singles losses sealed Bermuda's demotion and the doubles match which followed had little significance and simply served to rub salt into their wounds.

Ricky Mallory and Jenson Bascome were clearly lacking in motivation as they crashed in straight sets to Pablo Hernandez and Cristian Kawaz 4-1, 4-2, 4-0.

"All our preparations were geared for the Saturday match, because we knew that was the one we had to win to survive,'' said Bermuda captain Steve Bean.

"At the end of the day everybody is very disappointed.

"When I look back, there were matches in which we were competitive and could have gone either way. Given the strong opponents, the conditions, the short sets and the bigger balls, this was a tough tournament.

"I've thanked the guys for giving 100 percent and being team players by doing whatever I've asked them to do for the good of the team. They did the best job they could for the team.'' Bean said the exhaustion which hit Collieson had dealt the team a severe blow against Honduras.

"James had a match which we felt he was capable of winning, but for some reason he went out there with no energy,'' said the captain.

"I think it might have been down to the higher humidity and the four days of play which maybe took their toll on him.

"I could see what was happening to him from 2-1 in the first set. He's as fit as he can be and I give James a lot of credit for finishing the match, still trying the best he could.

"Our best chance was James winning and it was asking a lot of Donald to win against their number one. But he played well and had some great chances. He started well and served for the first set, but then lost it, and won the second set. Donald did the best he could. Then we were relegated and it was very difficult for Ricky and Jenson to motivate themselves for the doubles after that.'' Collieson was playing his fourth tough singles rubber in successive days and the physical strain of it all had clearly caught up with him.

His diminutive opponent Alvarez had no obvious weapons, apart from his sheer consistency in keeping the ball in play and deep.

He fed off Collieson's superior power and won the first set 4-2, before Colliseon fought back to win the second set 5-4, overpowering his opponent 7-4 in the tiebreaker.

By this stage, however, it was clear that Collieson was suffering from the effects of fatigue. His footwork became sluggish and on several occasions he gave himself a break between points.

Alvarez capitalised by throwing in a few lobs and drop shots to burn off what was left of Collieson's energy resources. The Honduran stormed the third set 4-0, and with Collieson suffering but refusing to give in, Alvarez sealed victory 4-1 in the fourth with a string of cruel drop shots in the final game.

Evans was left to reflect on several missed chances after a defeat to Carlos Caceres in four sets which sealed Bermuda's relegation.

The veteran was fast out of the blocks, broke the Caceres serve in the third game and found himself serving for the set at 3-2. But it was then that he seemed to lose the steady rhythm with which he had started, and Caceres broke back and then stole the set 7-2 in a tiebreaker.

Evans regained his early fine form in the second set and raced into a 3-0 lead. Serving for the set at 3-1, he came back from 0-30 down to hold and make it one set all.

In the third set at 2-2, Evans had Caceres struggling at 0-30 on his own serve, but the Honduran fought back to hold and then promptly broke Evans' serve to take the set 4-2 as hope turned to despair in a matter of moments.

Caceres wasted little time in finishing off the job, polishing off the fourth set 4-1.

In the doubles, Mallory and Bascome, who had performed well together earlier in the week in tight defeats against Cuba and Jamaica, never found their form and were swept aside by the Hondurans in a rather flat atmosphere.

DAVIS CUP NOTEBOOK PAGE 27 James Collieson: Suffered from extreme exhaustion during a four-set defeat against Honduras.