The semi-finals of the XL Bermuda Open will be graced by only one seed this year after Czech Ivo Minar became the seventh seed to be eliminated in a sensational week of upsets at a wind-buffeted Coral Beach Club yesterday.

And young American sensation Mardy Fish will also be flying home early after the 22-year-old Mark Philipoussis conqueror was beaten in three sets by feisty Spaniard Oscar Hernandez.

Second seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg fought off a spirited challenge from popular German Frank Moser in the three sets, 7-5, 0-6, 6-1, while Spain?s Fernando Vicente booked his place in today?s penultimate round thanks to a straight sets win over American Alex Bogomolov jr 6-4, 7-6.

In terms of talking points, the match between Fish and Hernandez was undoubtedly the game of the day, particularly as both players were not afraid to make it perfectly obvious that they cannot stand each other.

While the first set passed off without major incident, by early in the second both Fish and Hernandez were trading insults from their chairs in between games while also giving the chair umpire as hard a time as possible.

Neither players? mood was helped by what seemed like every third motorist on Middle Road inanely honking their horn to cause distraction as well as the blustery wind on Centre Court which continually pulled up large clouds of the Har Tru clay, showering both the players and the courtside spectators in green dust.

Nevertheless, Hernandez deservedly won the first set 6-4 after breaking Fish?s lightning-fast serve at 4-4, while generally looking the more assured on a surface ill-suited to his opponent?s attacking game.

The match remained on serve in the second set until the score reached 3-2 to Fish, and it was then that both players began losing their temper.

Love-40 down on his own serve after a pair of unforced errors when well-placed in the point, a frustrated Hernandez walloped the ball into the advertising hoarding at the rear of the court, narrowly missing a startled line judge.

When asked by the umpire to ?be careful?, Hernandez put his finger to his lips and told the umpire to shut up ? petulance which earned the clay-court specialist a deserved warning.

Then, after losing his serve, something Fish said to him as they crossed in between games clearly riled the Spaniard, who shouted ?watch what you say to me? at Fish before lodging a vociferous complaint with the match official ? all of which his opponent seemed to find highly amusing.

The atmosphere remained as poisonous as ever after that, with both players screaming across the net virtually every time the other made a mistake, with the umpire?s pleas for them to ?be professional? going totally unheeded.

The dispute seemed to undermine Fish?s concentration more than it did Hernandez, however, who broke back immediately after losing his own serve.

The set ultimately went to a tiebreak with Hernandez holding his nerve to win it 7-4 - bringing the young American?s 12-match unbeaten run to an end.

Afterwards, an angry Hernandez did not pull any punches, accusing Fish of arrogance and bad sportsmanship. ?He always acts like he is better than everybody else but I think today proved that is not true,? he said.

?He is not the best, no matter what he thinks. I was just trying to concentrate and get on with playing my game and it was him who kept making trouble. As I was walking to my chair at the start of the second set he walked passed and told me to ?f*** myself? which made me very angry.

?I am very glad it?s over though because we should not have to play tennis in that kind of wind ? it makes it very difficult to play properly and sometimes you play a good shot and it goes out because the wind takes it.

?I played as well as I could today in the wind and if I keep going there is no reason why I cannot win the tournament.?

Earlier Frenchman Antony Dupuis carried on where he left off against number one seed Paul Goldstein in the first round, producing some muscular baseline tennis which the higher-ranked Minar simply could not live with as he went down in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

Dupuis will play Vicente in the semi-finals today while Hernandez will attempt to ensure that the final will boast two unseeded players when he takes on Muller.

Speaking after his victory yesterday, number two seed Muller argued that the wind had been the biggest factor in why so many seeded players had failed to make it through the latter rounds.

?All week the wind has been really strong and it makes the whole game into a lottery,? he said. ?Today for example the wind was so strong that I had no confidence coming over my groundstrokes properly and all I was concentrating on doing was making sure I got the ball back in the court.

?I know given my ranking that I?m favourite to win the tournament, but if the wind stays the same, there are no guarantees.?