Saturday when he was beaten by Dexter Smith in the Bermuda Open Table Tennis Championships singles final at Dellwood Primary School.

Smith, who had been inactive until just recently, completed the double with that win as he earlier won the doubles with Eastern Stars team-mate Craig Trott over second-ranked Rawle Frederick and Mike Lindo.

That means that Nick Frost, who missed Saturday's tournament to play soccer, will be likely instated as the new number one by the end of the week. Smith was the Island's top player from the 1986-87 season until the start of this one, but stopped playing because of work commitments and his involvement in the Bermuda national cricket squad.

Upon resuming on a full-time basis last month Smith looked his former self only in spurts. But on Saturday he put it all together to pick up his third Open title and first major championship in three years.

The final contained the intensity of many of the previous Smith-Burgess match-ups, increasing in quality with each game.

Top seed Burgess got out of the blocks the quicker but Smith recovered well and held his own in a 15-21, 21-14, 21-15, 20-22, 21-16 thriller.

Apart from Frost, the other potential threats who were missing included Corey Berkeley and Derron Trott, both off the Island.

This opened the door for Burgess to win his first major title and he was nearly sidetracked in a tough semifinal against Mike Lindo.

Lindo dominated throughout the five games and actually had a match point in the fourth before letting the Hamilton Parish captain back into it.

Burgess eventually won 19-21, 21-13, 14-21, 22-20, 21-16. The top seed's previous victims were Sammy Wilson (21-13, 21-18) and Niraj Gilja (21-8, 21-16). Unseeded Smith needed to win four matches to reach the final, the second being a tricky battle against number two-ranked Andrew Smith (19-21, 21-17, 21-18). The champion's other wins were over Llewellyn Smith (21-9, 21-5); Kacy King (21-17, 21-13); and Owen Hunt in the semifinals (21-16, 21-19, 20-22, 21-11).

Hunt and Lindo pulled off the day's other upsets, Hunt beating his third-ranked Bermuda College team-mate Frederick 21-18, 21-14; and Lindo getting by fourth seed Craig Trott 12-21, 21-12, 21-16.

King won the consolation final over Trott 14-21, 21-18, 21-18. Though Smith and Trott were not seeded in the doubles their success was not as much a surprise. Of the pairs in the semifinals, they were the only ones who had played together before.

The Eastern Stars duo were in control all the way against Frederick and Lindo and it was only a brief spell of inconsistency from Smith at the end that made the first game close. Otherwise, it was fairly comfortable in the best-of-five final -- 21-19, 21-14, 21-15.

The season closes tonight with the final of the Lower Clubs' Knockout between Hamilton Parish II and Eastern Stars I at Young Men's Social Club (7.30).