went down 2-1 to one of the favourites, El Salvador. James Collieson lost his singles match to Miguel Merz 7-5, 6-3 before Donald Evans kept Bermuda in contention by beating Jose Barires 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Merz then teamed up with Yari Bernardo to defeat Ricky Mallory and Michael Way 6-2, 6-4.

The matches, the first in this year's American Zone Group III competition, were played in cool and windy conditions and the players struggled in the breezy conditions.

"The first time we played against El Salvador was two years ago and we weren't even competitive, they blew us off the court,'' said captain Steve Bean last night.

"They have the same players playing and for us to split with them (in singles) shows the kind of improvement our team has made and I'm very happy with the way they played.'' Bermuda take on the Dominican Republic today before meeting Panama on Friday in their final group tie.

The Dominican Republic beat Panama 2-1 yesterday. The top two teams join the top two from Group A in a play-off to determine which two advance to the Group II while the bottom two in each division meet to see who drops back to Group IV.

Bermuda were promoted from Group IV in last year's competition.

"We're very optimistic going up against the other two because we know they won't be as strong (as El Salvador,'' said Bean.

"Our goal is to remain in Division III.

"This guy Miguel Merz played a real good singles match against James and was even better in the doubles. He actually made the difference, he was just a level above.

The news of the death of veteran coach Charles Daulphin reached the team last night and Bean offered condolences on behalf of the Davis Cup team.

Bean and Mallory are best friends with Daulphin's son, Karl Roberts, who is also a tennis player.

Meanwhile, the women's Federation Cup team suffered another loss in Monterrey, Mexico, this time going down 3-0 to Haiti in the American Zone Group II tournament.

Bermuda, competing in Group A, lost both singles matches when Allison Towlson was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by Jennifer Adrian and Danielle Paynter went down 6-2, 6-1 to Neyssa Epienne.

They also lost in doubles when Towlson and Liz Osborne were beaten 6-0, 6-2.

The previous night Bermuda lost the doubles match to Barbados when Paynter and Towlson went down 6-3, 1-6, 8-6 to Richelle Lasaldo and Kim Brandford after splitting the singles earlier in the day.

On Monday, Bermuda failed to win a game in three matches against Mexico.

Today, Bermuda meet Costa Rica and tomorrow take on Antigua.