Australia's Brett Martin, seeking a record fourth title, surged into the semi-finals of the Heinz Bermuda Open Squash Championships last night on the tails of a commanding performance against former champion Gary Waite of Canada.

Like a silent assassin, Martin appeared to lull Waite, winner of the tournament in 1991, into a fall sense of security before pouncing on his opponent, who had no answer to the Aussie's startling display.

Showing the form that has garnered him the title as the world's best `touch' player, Martin, the top seed, unloaded a full bag of tricks before a packed crowd at the Devonshire courts.

This followed a tentative start by Martin, who surrendered the first game 13-15 to the flu stricken Waite.

Waite, seeded eighth, showed great resolve, recovering from 6-10 down to level things at 10-10, move ahead 13-10 and then hold on for the game.

But from that point it was all Martin as he took full advantage of Waite's illness, using the delicate drop shot to great effect as he ran out a 13-15, 15-4, 15-7, 15-3 victor.

After the match Martin said he was pleased with his performance, but admitted to being surprised with the easy manner in which he had advanced.

"I think things went reasonably well, I'm not unhappy with the way I'm playing,'' said Martin, who like Waite has had to battle the `flu bug' since arriving on the Island last week.

"I've been hitting the ball okay, so hopefully in the next few days I'll have a few more wins under my sleeve.

"I was a little bit surprised. I don't know, maybe Gary had something wrong with him, he's probably got a bit of the flu or something from riding around in the rain.

"I find I get along a lot better with Gary when I attack the front all the time, so that's what I did.'' Martin's next obstacle is Angus Kirkland of England, a 3-1 winner over Pakistan's Mir Zaman Gul.

And Martin is optimistic of his chances of winning that match which would put him in the final. "If I play the way I played today I think I should have pretty good chance,'' he said. "I normally just take each match as it comes.

You might have a bit of a game plan, but usually it goes out the window as soon as you get on the court and you've just got to adjust to the way he's playing.

"I always want to win. There's only three guys left, so I have a one in four chance...the odds are getting better each day.'' Earlier Kirkland demolished Gul in four games, relying more on his power and superior fitness to get past the Pakistani.

After winning the first game 15-7, Kirkland suffered a lapse in concentration which allowed Gul to win the second 12-15. However, that seemed to sap his energy sources, allowing Kirkland to run out the last two games 15-7, 15-8.

"Tonight I played really well and I'm quite happy,'' said Kirkland, ranked 24th in the world and seeded sixth for this event. "It's hotter than I'm used to here and there's no air conditioning, but I felt happy today.

"Tonight I thought I kept the ball quite tight to the side-walls and concentrated quite well.'' Kirkland pointed to the second game as the key despite the fact that he lost it.

"The second game was hard. It was the key. Even though I lost, it won me the match, because he did a lot of running and it made the last two games a bit easier for me.'' Meanwhile, other quarter-final action saw defending champion and number three seed Paul Gregory routinely dispatch young Belgian Stefan Casteleyn 15-8, 15-10, 15-11 to set up a semi-final clash tonight against Pakistan's Zarak Jahan Khan, the second seed, who defeated his fellow countryman Abdul Faheem Khan 15-12, 15-13, 11-15, 15-8.