“It’s going to be tough,” said Liz, the reigning English strokeplay champion from Brokenhurst Manor in Hampshire. “I’m going to have to play as I did this afternoon.” In that session she put on a fine display of scoring to beat Braintree’s Jenny Pease 4/3.

Earlier in the day she had to draw on her fighting qualities to beat Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall) on the 20th. Liz was one down playing the 18th but squared the match with a birdie and then produced two solid pars to win through.

Danielle Montgomery (Lambourne) also went into extra time in the first roun! d before beating Laura Jones (Royal Liverpool) with a birdie on the 19th. She went on to defeat Jo Hodge (Knowle) in a fine match in which neither player had a bogey. They halved every hole until Danielle won the 8th; they halved another string of holes before Danielle won the 16th with a birdie; they finally halved the 17th to give Danielle a 2/1 win.

Curtis Cup players Melissa Reid and Naomi Edwards also moved safely into the quarter-finals. Melissa (Chevin) was five under par when she beat Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) 9/7; while Naomi (Ganton) triumphed by one-hole over 16-year-old Hannah Barwood (Knowle). English girls’ champion Rachel Jennings, 18, (Izaak Walton) will take on Naomi after winning the battle of the teenagers, beating Florentyna Parker, 17 (Royal Birkdale) 4/3. “Flory’s a very good golfer and I’m really pleased to win this,” said Rachel who sealed the match with a 20ft birdie putt on the! 15th. Kent’s Claire Aitken (The London) continued h er impressive progress through this championship with a second round 4/3 win over Fern Grimshaw (Weymouth).

Earlier in the day Fern provided the upset of the tournament when she beat 2004 champion Kerry Smith (Waterlooville) 5/4 in the first round. The quarter-finalists are completed by Anna Scott (Consett & District) who had two comfortable wins; and by Emma Lyons (West Surrey) who upset the odds when she won her second round match against England international Rachel Bell (Ganton) 2/1. The quarter-finals start at 9.15am and the matches will be played at 15-minute intervals. The draw is: Liz Bennett v Danielle Montgomery. Rachel Jenningsv Naomi Edwards. Emma Lyons v Anna Scott. Claire Aitken v Melissa Reid. Online scoring: www.englishladiesgolf.org