TEEN stars Elena Baltacha and Annabel Blow starred in the National Championships at the Bolton Arena this afternoon.

Baltacha overwhelmed Kerry Hughes 6-0 6-3 and Blow beat Julie Smith 6-1 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Baltacha, Blow and Anne Keothavong, who plays her second-round match against Alice Barnes tomorrow, are all 18 years old and along with 19-year-old Hannah Collin, another quarter-finalist, are rated by Keith Wooldridge, the head of women's tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, as "the best group of women's prospects since Jo Durie".

"They have the desire, the attitude and the strength and they are not scared to say that their ambitions are to get to the very top," said Wooldridge.

Durie, who broke into the world's top five in 1984, was the last big British female star and is now involved with Alan Jones in the coaching of Keothavong and Baltacha, whose world ranking has leapt almost 600 places in the two years she has spent under Durie's tutelage.

Baltacha's excellent year was highlighted by her run to the semi-finals of junior Wimbledon this year - a feat matched by Keothavong - and played her first-round match in the senior competition on Centre Court.

"I think I've improved enormously in my time with Alan and Jo and now my goal is to get inside the top 200 by the start of next year," said Baltacha.

"I used to try to smack winners all over the place and I didn't know what to do if they weren't going in. But now I feel more confident with myself, I am digging in and practising to a far higher standard."

Blow put her full-time tennis career on hold while she completed A-levels in maths, physics and chemistry this summer, but it is now the turn of her education to take a back seat.

"At 16 I thought my education was more important because then when I went full-time I would know that if it didn't work out I could go back to something," said Blow.

"There is a good crop of youngsters coming up and we are all pushing each other along and putting each other under pressure."

Men's second seed Jamie Delgado beat James Smith 6-3 7-6 (7-3) to set up an exciting quarter-final against reigning champion Lee Childs. Childs, stretched to the brink in his first round match yesterday, produced a more composed 6-1 6-4 victory over Simon Dickson.

Delgado, the champion two years ago, admitted: "My form has been mediocre so far. I just need to pick up my approach and I need to liven up a bit more.

"I'd love to win this tournament again and if I concentrate on my game and try to impose myself on Lee I will stand a good chance."

Arvind Parmar also went through after a 7-5 6-4 win over national junior champion Richard Bloomfield.

In tomorrow's highlight men's top seed Martin Lee meets another British tennis prospect, 17-year-old Alex Bogdanovic.