LEE Childs, still only 19, is close to becoming the first man to claim back-to-back triumphs in the National Championships since Tim Henman in 1997.

Childs overcame second seed Jamie Delgado yesterday when the former champion retired at 6-2 and 4-1 down with a virus.

Childs' next opponent, Barry Cowan, admits he has felt ill since returning from Davis Cup duty in Ecuador last month and Arvind Parmar is short of the fitness level he would like after a year racked with injuries.

Childs says: "If you live and breathe tennis, in terms of it being all you do day in, day out, I believe you'd just burn out. Your brain would just fry.

"If you can't let your hair down for just five minutes, it would be like being a robot. Players get ill because they are not fresh. It is time for those guys to chill out and get ready for next year.

"Of course I train five days a week, but I only do half a day on the fifth day and I use the other half to do something different, like my washing."

Along with Childs, Parmar and Cowan, 17-year-old Alex Bogdanovic also reached the semi-finals, following up his win over Martin Lee with a three-set success against James Nelson.

The women's competition was denied a dream semi-final between 18-year-old prospects Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha when Baltacha was stunned 6-2 7-6 by British number 19 Victoria Davies.

Baltacha's normally accurate power game was off cue and after fighting back in the second set she squandered two set points, the second with a double fault.

But Keothavong stayed on course with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Lucie Ahl.

Two-time National winner and current British number one Julie Pullin came from a set down to beat Annabel Blow and set up a last-four meeting with 1999 champion Hannah Collin