were -- tennis fans should be in for a wild week at Coral Beach Club.

Much of the talk heading into the XL Bermuda Open was about parity and the great equaliser known as clay. The 32 players who spent Saturday and Sunday just trying to make it into the main draw probably provided a sneak preview of what to expect.

Four positions were open and when the dust settled late yesterday, only one went to a player ranked among the top eight who attempted to qualify. The others were taken by a Dutchman ranked number 480 in the world, an Argentinian at number 381 and a Frenchman at 296.

Three of them -- Tom Kempers, Grant Doyle and Sebastian Prieto -- will be in action today when the $125,000 tournament begins for real, while the other -- Jerome Hanquez -- gets a day's rest before joining the remainder of the field tomorrow.

Small consolation, because last night's draw stuck him into a match with Byron Black, merely the number two seed.

But after beating Frederico Browne 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) he was just happy to be here.

"You're always happy when you qualify,'' said Hanquez, who is ranked number 16 in France.

Hanquez has spent the past two weeks in Miami with his coach getting ready for the tournament and the clay-court season but got off to a shaky start in his first appearance in Bermuda and his first against Browne.

It was after losing his serve and getting smoked at the baseline by Browne, he figured he better do something.

"I decided to go to the net,'' he said. "If I played the back, I knew he was better than me.'' The match was the second straight three-setter for both. But Hanquez had the easier route; Browne had to get by the second-best qualifier (187 according to the ATP) in fellow Argentinian Martin Rodriguez 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

"We were both tired,'' said Hanquez. "I was very lucky.'' There was nothing lucky about the way Kempers got to the main draw as he overpowered Paul Kilderry, Steve Campbell (ranked number 213) and Sweden's Fredrik Bergh (304).

The 6-foot-2 righthander, who will team up with Tom Nijssen to form the fourth-seeded doubles team this week, unleashed a blistering serve to get into the final 32.

Against Bergh, he picked up a 6-4 win in the first set and was up 3-1 in the second before losing four of the next five games. Tied 5-5, Kempers broke Bergh's serve with a perfect drop shot.

Kempers, whose serve had Bergh on his heels most of the match, promptly drilled an ace down the middle and fired his next serve directly at his opponent. Bergh's return was wide, giving Kempers the win. For health reasons, Bergh was fortunate just to get a racquet on it.

Kempers will have to have his big gun blazing today; he's been drawn against number four seed Scott Draper in the tournament opener at 11.00 a.m.

The other bracket saw Doyle get by American Tour veteran Jared Palmer 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and Sebastian Prieto beat Ecuador's Luis Adrian Morejon by the same score.

Palmer, ranked 222, got by number 192 Attila Savolt and Kenny Thorne in straight sets before meeting Doyle. Doyle's road included a win over Behrans, who was the story of last year's tournament when he not only qualified, but advanced to the quarter-finals before losing to eventual winner and top seed MaliVai Washington.

No such luck for Behrens this year. After blasting Bermuda's Donald Evans 6-2, 6-0 he was dispatched 6-2, 6-3.

Doyle gets thrown back into the fire this afternoon when he faces Dennis Van Scheppinghen, a Dutchman ranked 93rd in the world and the number eight seed in this tournament.

Prieto is ranked 184 spots behind Morejon but became the fifth Argentinian in the main field with his win.

Photos by David Skinner HE'S OUT! -- Jared Palmer's Bermuda experience didn't last long. A veteran of the ATP Tour, he was sent packing with a loss to Grant Doyle in qualifying yesterday.