LEE Childs' hopes of becoming the first man to retain the national title since Tim Henman won three in a row from 1995 to 1997 are alive and well.

The Bridgwater teenager, who was pushed to the brink in his first-round match against Chris Lewis, had a more comfortable time in the second round with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Simon Dickson.

And his ambitions of repeating have been given an unexpected boost by the unsatisfactory form of two of his major rivals, both of whom admit they must improve if they are to stand a chance.

Second seed Jamie Delgado was made to work hard by James Smith before booking his quarter-final berth against Childs, eventually winning 6-3 7-6, while Arvind Parmar felt he could improve on his 7-5 6-4 win over Richard Bloomfield.

"I was a bit sloppy, but he's had a good year and he had nothing to lose," said Parmar, who meets Mark Hilton in the last eight.

"I can serve a lot better than I did and I am going to have to play a lot better than that if I am going to make any further progress."

Delgado's clash with Childs on Thursday promises to be one of the week's closest affairs as the 24-year-old attempts to stave off the threat of the highly hyped young pretender.

And Delgado, whose promising summer included second-round appearances at the Stella Artois and Wimbledon - where he lost to Andre Agassi - is anxious to add more bite to his challenge.

He said: "My form has been mediocre so far. I just need to pick up my approach and liven up a bit more. I'm still competing but maybe I'm a bit tired.

"I'm sure Lee will be fighting to keep his title, but I beat him on the way to winning the nationals two years ago and if I'm on my game and I impose myself on him I stand a good chance."

Annabel Blow moved into the last eight of the women's tournament, continuing to justify her decision to abandon her education after completing her A-levels in the summer.

Blow beat Julia Smith 6-1 6-4 and her fellow 18-year-old prospect Elena Baltacha continued her good progress with a 6-0 6-3 win over Kerry Smith.

British number one Julie Pullin overcame Claire Ricketts in straight sets.