Doug Flach avenged a doubles defeat two weeks ago by Argentinian Sebastien Prieto with a convincing victory in the opening singles match of the XL Bermuda Open at Coral Beach yesterday.

And Germany's Michael Kohlmann set up a possible second round meeting with number one seed Sargis Sargsian with a three-set win over Brazilian Marcio Carlsson in a hard-hitting encounter which more obviously reflected the modern face of men's tennis.

Flach's 6-4, 6-2 triumph was based on excellent serving, backed by fine ground strokes on either side and a willingness to take the opportunities which came his way.

It all proved too much for an opponent currently ranked 74 places above him and who had last faced Flach in doubles competition at the Lipton championships in Florida and come out on top.

Prieto had come into the tournament rated 148th in the world, a climb of 223 places on this time last year when he emerged from a tough XL qualifying round before losing to Nicolas Lapenti.

But he was no match for Flach, trying to boost his own ranking back to its 1994 high of 108.

The American, from St Louis, Missouri, admitted afterwards: "I lost some points at the beginning of the year and my ranking has slipped to the 220s.

But I've had some tough luck -- I've lost in the last round of qualifying four times. But I hope to get back up to around about 100 by the end of the year.'' Flach signalled his determination from the outset, winning his first service game to love and going on to concede just three points on his own serve in the entire set -- and those all in one game.

Thwarted in the third game, when he failed to break despite five deuces, he slapped down three aces in the next, before accepting his only break point of the fifth to grab a 3-2 lead.

Prieto never got a look in on the Flach delivery for the remainder of the set as Flach romped in 6-4. So shocked was the Argentinian that he slipped to a 3-0 deficit in the second set. Flach's second break -- to love -- was completed with a beautiful drop shot and a return of such viciousness that Prieto had barely time to lift his racquet as it sped past him on the baseline.

Prieto surprisingly broke back to give himself a glimmer of hope at 3-1 but the mountain proved too high to climb.

Flach broke again to make it 5-2 and, as if to emphasise his superiority, took the match with yet another love service game.

While Flach had mixed power with subtlety, Kohlmann, next up on centre court, combined power with yet more power to finally see off Carlsson.

The tall, strongly-built German almost blew Carlsson off court as he took the first set 6-1.

And although Carlsson twice had break points in the second set, he couldn't find the final shot to give him an advantage. It was a surprise, then, when Kohlmann's form deserted him in the tie-break to give Carlsson a 7-1 victory.

The Brazilian, at 156 ranked just 19 places beneath his opponent on the ATP Tour, sensed a change in fortunes, breaking the German for the first time in the third game of the deciding set.

But as the sun gave way to a heavy black cloud, Kohlmann refused to be drawn into despondency, instead taking off his cap for the first time and breaking back immediately to love.

Games then went with serve until the eighth when Kohlmann's strength and consistency of stroke re-established themselves as he broke with a superb cross-court return, before holding his own serve to win the match.

He said afterwards: "I started very well. I played the first set as well as I can play on clay. It was unbelievable.

"I don't know why I played so well because I didn't practise so much on clay.

But in the second set I was a little more defensive, I let him play and he got better.'' In the other two matches to complete a light first day yesterday, veteran Frenchman Rodolphe Gilbert and young Australian Todd Larkham each advanced to the second round.

Larkham, 23, had by far the easier of the two matches -- winning 6-3, 6-4 over Andrei Cherkasov in a battle of right-handed baseliners -- setting up an interesting second-round showdown.

That's assuming number four seed Oliver Gross, ranked number 106, gets by his first round opponent, Mikael Pernfors, tonight. Pernfors was the 1993 Bermuda Open champion and a Swedish Davis Cupper but is in semi-retirement now.

Gilbert, a pro for ten years, had his highest ranking back in 1992 (61) and is currently 174. He knocked off Agustin Garizzio of Argentina 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 yesterday and could meet another Argentinian, number six seed Lucas Arnold, in the second round.

In addition to Gross, two other seeds see action today, including number eight Dennis Van Scheppingen who has a lunch-time Centre Court meeting with former winner MaliVai Washington.

The two have never played each other but Washington said this week he's far more concerned about his own progress than any opponent. Champion here two years ago, he's continuing his comeback from knee surgery last year. "My game is fine, it all depends on the knee,'' he said of his hopes.