The heat wave continued as the Open Series started on the first day of play at the 46th European Bridge Team Championships. It was business as usual for the holders Italy, who scored a maximum 50 VP to stand alone at the top of the table. The heat had no effect on Iceland, just two points behind on 48 VP. The Netherlands are third, England fourth and Bulgaria fifth.

The match of the day was the round two encounter between Poland and Russia, (to be reported tomorrow) which featured some fine play from both teams and entertained a fair sized VuGraph audience, before finishing in an exact tie.

Commentator Guido Ferraro backed up yesterday's bulletin forecast by predicting the top five teams will be Italy, Norway, Poland, Bulgaria & Russia.

The biggest surprise so far is the second round defeat of the highly regarded Swedish team by Wales - but you can be sure that more shocks are in store.