Bermudian Earl Leader narrowly missed out on the chance to play one of tennis’s top players after losing in the quarter-finals at the Bermuda Breeze Championships on Tuesday.

Leader, who a day earlier had caused a surprise when beating Canadian third seed John Payne in the Men’s Over-75 singles, was beaten 6-3, 6-7, 2-6 by Hugh Burris, who will go on to play Michael Beautyman, the best player of his era in this division.

After the first set it appeared that the graceful Leader was in control of the game but a tight second set, which ended in tie-break success for Burris, was the catalyst for a change in momentum, with the American player riding a wave of drop shots to victory.

“It always looks like you are in control when you are leading but no matter who you are playing the match is never over until it’s over,” Leader said.

“I was feeling pretty good and I was up 6-5 and serving for it in the second set but he came back and built some momentum in the tie-break. It was a great match and I really enjoyed it.”

The game was played in a good spirit with Leader and Burris laughing and joking together during the breaks, in stark contrast to at least one of the other matches in the age group going on at the same time.

“He was a fine gentleman and it’s nice to have visitors that come to the island and play nice,” Leader said

“That’s what it should be. We are both competitive when we are playing but the most important thing in the game is mutual respect. I still love the game, I still coach and I still enjoy it. It keeps me in shape and it keeps me going.”

Leader’s conqueror Burris had not been on the island for more than 60 years and, while pleased with his win, he was somewhat embarrassed to have knocked out a local legend.

“Earl is a heck of a guy and, win or lose, it was one of the best matches I’ve had in a long time,” Burris said.

“My dad was in the Navy and he was stationed here in the 1960s. I must have been about nine or ten years old and the only thing I remember is the fishing.

“When I won the first two games, I thought Earl was going to quit but then he won the next five and I thought I would be having an early lunch as he was running like a deer. I thought about checking his birth certificate, he was moving so good.

“The island is gorgeous, my wife is here and the people are so friendly and I’d come back just to visit Earl, whether I was playing tennis or not.”

Waiting in the wings for the winner was former world No 1 Michael Beautyman, who showed his class when beating James Watlington 6-0, 6-0 in his quarter-final.

Beautyman was the highest-ranked player in the world in his age group for most of the past three years before an elbow injury meant he was unable to defend his ranking points. An effervescent character, Beautyman knows exactly why he is driven to still compete at the age of 78.

“To be accurate I’m probably simply trying to compensate for who I perceived myself to be in high school, which was inadequate,” Beautyman said.

“I was a late bloomer, I didn’t break 5ft or 100lb until after eleventh grade. Along with that came emotional immaturity and I developed late and didn’t have the success that you want, particularly in sport. But when it does come you want it to keep going, so I have kept my hand in this sport and in ski racing.”

Beautyman is favourite to win the men’s over-75 tournament this week but not only is he competing against his rivals on the opposite side of the net, he sometimes feels as if he is fighting his own body, with injuries taking their toll.

“A goal is to win but I play for a variety of reasons,” Beautyman said.

“It gives me a chance to challenge myself. You’re in a third-set tiebreaker and are you going to raise your game or are you going to dissolve in a puddle of nerves, so I like to challenge myself that way.

“Secondly, there is the incidental benefit of fitness, which comes with playing, although in the masters age group that also comes with injuries. When you’re 25 and you get hurt, the next morning you wake up and you’ve forgotten you were hurt, but every time you get injured now, the question is am I done?

“I’ve had a partial knee replacement, I ruptured my Achilles, it was a bad rupture, a high one, in 2018. I’m lucky that through my sister, who is a physician, I managed to get a very good surgeon, who did not accept Medicare.

“I’ve also had a ski accident and broke my backbone in five places with everything on the left side of my body moving over to the right side. I crushed the ribs and lung on the left side, damaged the pancreas, kidney and spleen, and fractured my arm, which is why sometimes now my ball toss does not stay in the same county. It’s an ongoing battle and a lot of people give up.”

Beautyman also created the world championships for men aged 90 and over and women older than 85 and feels that it should act as an inspiration to middle-aged players.

“You look at the players in our age group and you just have to admire and respect what they are doing,” he said.

“I was at the ITF World Championships in Majorca and there were two players over 100. I want to keep pushing and I run an event called the Beautyman Cup, and it’s United States against the world for those aged 65 and older.

“We have the matches and members of the public watch great players such as Jimmy Parker. He’s won more than 170 tournaments and people watch him run around the court at the age of 81 and think I want to be like that.

“We hold a seminar and panel discussion with members of the public asking the players about their diet and their nutrition, supplements and the gym. The best way to find that out is to talk to them and find out how they do it.

“The great Kingdon ‘King’ Van Nostrand, who played in this tournament years ago, is now in his nineties and still going strong. He’s had four knee replacements. We want to give younger people and players inspiration.”