Martin Bronstein reporting from Toronto on the first qualifying round.

OPPORTUNITIES GALORE
After the fat cat months of November and December with three tournaments boasting prize money in excess of  $100,000 each, the Pace Canadian  Classic with just $60,000 prize money must seem like peanuts to the top players and many of them decided not to enter.

Indeed players in the top 100 seemed to have found  better things to do because the qualifying draw of 16 players included player ranked higher than 150.  Last year these players would not have had a ghost of a chance of getting close to a place in the qualifying draw, so, it is an ill wind....


DYLAN BLOWS GENTLY IN THE WIND
Dutchman Dylan Bennett, ranked 57 in the world (and seeded sixth in the qualiyfing draw) found himself facing Canadian Michael Reid, ranked 165. The very experienced Bennett took just  23 minutes to despatch Reid, but still gave up too many points  to someone he should have buried  for the loss of a handful of points.

In the third game  Bennett was 9-2 up  but allowed Reid to get within three points before winning 11-7 in a game that took five minutes. Obviously Bennett was not in top gear and perhaps he was in a magnanimous mood and felt confident enought  to relax.

SELBY SOAKS UP THE BEDORE INTENSITY
Englishman Darry Selby  is ranked 106 places highr than Patrick Bedore of Montreal, a player just out of the junior ranks who is listed at 156.  So Selby, who has had a good string of results in the last 12 months, also felt confident against the youthful Bedore who plays every ball as though the our planet's very future depended on his winning the point.  He has an admirable intensity and commitment but constantly looks as though he is going to implode. He simply doesn't have the consistency to offer a real challenge to someone of Selby's standing yet, but Bedore has just gone full time and with a couple of solid years on the pro circuit  he will either destroy himself or emerge a very tough professional player.

Selby won in three, 11-2, 11-5, 11-8, with the third game  showing just how tough Bedore can be. He told me later that he was not happy with his performance because he had eaten just before he played and  he did not get into his stride until that third game.

GARNER STILL PUSHING HARD
Ben Garner took time out to get his degree at Oxford and is finding it harder than he thought to reach that magic top 20 where he won't have to worry about qualifying. His ranking dropped from 41 to 43 in the January list and was seeded second behind Davide Bianchetti in this tournament; qualifying draw.  He found himself facing Miguel Rodriguez of Columbia, yet another talented player from South America who are beginning to prove themselves too tough for the Canadians and Americans in the Pan American competitions.

Rodriguez is extremely fast and  Garner constantly found balls coming back that he thought were long gone. Rodriguez is not just a ball chaser: he knows when and how to put the ball away and although Garner won  in 23 minutes, he had to work hard as the ll-7, ll-7 ll-8 scoreline shows.

DELIERRE DELAYED BY PATTERSON
Shawn Delierre ,ranked 66, seemed to have Dylan Patterson of the US  all tied up with his superb length - especially on the backhand side. HItting the ball effortlessly and with fine precision, Delierre took the first two game for the loss of just six points. Patterson seemed totally outclassed. But everything changed in the third: whether Delierre got too confident and took his foot off the pedal or it was a matter of Patterson finally getting his game together, the American was quickly 5-0 up and Delierre was rattled. He managed to pull himself together to get back to 7-9 but then Patterson hit his next serve into the nick to reach game ball and then take the game with a low drive.

Delierre can do twice as much on his backhand than with his forehand and I was waiting for Patterson to realise this and keep the ball away from the left wall. He didn't but still did well enough in the fourth game to make a great comeback from 8-2 down to lead 9-8 with Delierre on the edge of self destruction. He saved the situation by taking the next two points toget to match ball. After someball bouncing and some dramatic pauses, Delierre served the ball out of court. Patterson took the next point to reach game ball at 11-10. If he won this game  he would have had a terrific psychological advantage going into the fifth. Delierre prevented this  by playing the next three points sensibly to win 13-11 and earn his  match against top seed  Davide Bianchetti  who had beaten American Chris Gordon in straight games.