In a tournament of major upsets, normality finally descended on the XL Bermuda Open yesterday as all seeds in early action came through their clay court assignments relatively unscathed.

Second seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, conqueror of exciting teenage talent Scoville Jenkins in the first round, took three sets to dispose of American Tyler Cleveland 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 while number seven seed Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic waltzed passed Jeff Morrison 7-5, 6-3 in his first round match.

With top seed Paul Goldstein having been eliminated the previous day by the big-serving Frenchman Antony Dupuis, together with four other seeds since the tournament began on Monday, the pressure was clearly on the lanky Muller to perform as the form book suggested.

And he looked more than willing to oblige in the first set against his inconsistent, flame-haired opponent, skilfully moving Cleveland around the court while coming in to put away the volley whenever presented with the opportunity.

While the blustery wind was making it difficult for both players to establish any real rhythm on their groundstrokes, the left-handed Muller seemed to be coping far better, as Cleveland let himself down repeatedly with a succession of unforced errors either long or in the net.

At 3-0 up in the second, however, the big European appeared to drop his intensity, allowing Cleveland to establish a foothold in the match at 4-4 which he did not fully deserve.

The set remained on-serve after that ? forcing a tiebreak which Cleveland ultimately won 7-4 thanks to four netted groundstrokes in a row from Muller, who then threw his racquet to the ground in frustration having squandered an opportunity to finish off the match in little over an hour.

Riled by his sloppiness, Muller was far more aggressive at the beginning of the third, often standing inside the baseline as he pounded his groundstrokes into both corners.

This sudden pressure was far too much for Cleveland, who could do little to halt the onslaught as he slid to defeat 3-6 in the decider.

?I think I became a little too tentative in the second set and I let him back in,? said Muller afterwards while explaining why he felt so many seeds had fallen by the wayside in the tournament?s early stages.

?The conditions here with the strong wind and the slowness of the court has made it very even for everybody in the draw and made it difficult for some of the top players to impose themselves.

?That happened to me in the second set when the wind picked up and threw me a little bit, but I decided to come out and really attack in the third which worked very well.?

Elsewhere, German Benjamin Becker ? no relation of his famous namesake and countryman ? had nowhere near enough firepower to cope with Argentinian Diego Junqueira, who beat the 2004 NCAA singles champion 6-2, 6-4.