BOLTON-based tennis stars are proving that life goes on at Bolton Arena despite the LTA's decision to leave the site in the summer.

The LTA had signed a 21-year agreement to use the Arena as a tennis academy when it opened in 2001, but quit just over 12 months later.

Despite that, no less than six of the 32 competitors in the men's draw of the Hastings Direct National Championships are based at Bolton and under the wing of coach Jim Edgar.

Two of Edgar's charges, Jon Marray and David Sherwood, were due to meet in the quarter finals of the event today, which guarantees Edgar a semi-finalist.

And the coach believes that it will be a player who comes through a private squad such as his own who will eventually be the next top player in this country to challenge Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

"There are very few camps like my own, perhaps three or four in the country," says Edgar. "But it is the major way that success is achieved abroad.

"I believe that small, private groups work better than big associations like the LTA, who try to do too much.

"They are too desperate for success and suffer the consequences. They try to set long-term goals, but they do not follow things through.

"Also there is too much politics with them, players have to behave in a certain way. If John McEnroe had been British I doubt he would have made it.

"The LTA's failures are highlighted by the fact that no one has come through the ranks and gone to the top in years - Rusedski was brought up in Canada, and Henman began with the privately run Slater Squad, which was based at a David Lloyd Centre in Middlesex.

"All my players are cast-offs from the LTA but they are all improving all the time and their individual world rankings are getting better all the time."

Meanwhile defending men's champion Lee Childs struggled through to the quarters yesterday, and will today meet number one seed Martin Lee.

"I'm still confident," said Childs. "Last year I was the same, and I had to get through the tough early games. I tend to play better against better opposition so I'm looking forward to playing Martin."

MEN

Second round: Martin Lee (Sussex) bt Neil Watts (Wiltshire) 6-3 6-4, Lee Childs (Somerset) bt Nicky Crawley (Norfolk) 7-6 (8) 6-4, Alex Bogdanovic (Middlesex) bt Richard Irwin (Dorset) 6-3 6-2, Mark Hilton (Cheshire) bt Tom Burn (Surrey) 6-4 6-4

WOMEN

Second round: Helen Crook (Essex) bt Holly Bagshaw (Hertfordshire) 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-4), Melissa Gibb (Buckinghamshire) bt Anna White (Dorset) 6-4 5-7 6-1, Jo Ward (Middlesex) bt Chantal Coombs (Kent) 6-4 6-3, Anne Keothavong (Middlesex) bt Rebecca Llewellyn 6-2 6-0.