Francesco Bruni, the defending champion, and his Luna Rossa Challenge crew bowed out of the Argo Group Gold Cup at the first hurdle.

The Italian team started the day needing to win their remaining two round-robin matches and then rely on other results to go their way to stand a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.

Bruni managed victories against rival skippers Keith Swinton, of Team Alpari FX, and Pierre-Antoine Morvan, of Vannes Agglo Sailing Team, but he was pipped by Frenchman Morvan for the fourth and final quarter-final spot in group one as a half-a- point deduction for a collision with Ian Williams, of GAC Pindar, in an earlier match came back to haunt him.

“It’s a hard one to digest because we were leading all of the races except one so potentially we could have easily gone through,” Bruni said.

“We made too many tactical mistakes yesterday [Thursday] and the day before. I really like the Gold Cup and not going through is painful.”

If it was any consolation for Luna Rossa Challenge, fellow America’s Cup competitors Artemis Racing, with multiple world champion Nathan Outteridge at the helm, also failed to advance.

Williams, a four-times world match racing champion, had the best record during the group stage. The Englishman gathered 8½ points from a possible nine to top group one with an unblemished record.

“We are really pleased to be unbeaten so far,” Williams said. “But of course there’s a long way to go.”

Williams chose Poland’s Marek Stancyzk, of Henri Lloyd Rainmaker Racing, as his quarter-final opponent and after one flight holds a 1-0 advantage in the first to three series.

Also advancing to the last eight from group one were Björn Hansen, of Hansen Sailing Team, and Johnie Berntsson of Stena Sailing Team. Topping group two was Taylor Canfield and US One Sailing.

Canfield, who first competed in Bermuda in the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup, leads Staffan Lindberg, of Alandia Sailing Team, 1-0 in the quarter-finals.

Eric Monnin and Swiss Match Race Team and Stancyzk were the remaining skippers progressing from group two to the quarter-finals.

Only three of the eight Alpari World Match Racing Tour Card Holders made it through the last eight, featuring three past Gold Cup winners in Williams, Berntsson and Canfield.

Bermuda’s Somers Kempe and Raymarine/Ocean Electronics ended their campaign on a winning note after getting the better of David Storrs, of Pequot Racing Team.

Kempe finished with an identical 2-7 record to that of fellow local skipper, Lance Fraser and Team Digicel Business, who lost their final group two match to Mathieu Richard.