Britain's Loffhagen through to F1 Futures semifinals

Uganda F1 Futures
I. Nedelko bt D. Prajwal (6-1,7-5)
V. Kaza bt K. Anand (6-4,3-6,7-5)
G. Markovic bt L.Bocchi (6-0,7-5)
G. Loffhagen bt F.Ornago (6-3,2-6,6-3)

Fixtures
Saturday
I. Nedelko v V. Kaza
G. Markovic v G. Loffhagen

Great Britain's George Loffhagen defeated the second seed Fabrizio Ornago of Italy by 2-1(6-3,2-6,6-3)to sail into his first semifinal in a Futures 1 tournament.

The 17-year-old battled his Italian opponent into submission and is on course to get a wild card entry into the tournament next week regardless of whether he goes on to win this week.

 Ivan Nedelko (RUS) uring the ITF Men's Circuit, Lugogo

"I thought I started off the match quite well. I had quite a few chances to break him, but I did not convert those chances. I did get the chance to break and I went 4-2 up and then I converted again to take the first set," an excited Loffhagen told the New Vision.

Loffhagen struggled in the second set as Fabrizio chalked up some good tennis to send the match into a third set.

With a little more self belief, the Italian broke the young Brit in the first game of the third set and it all looked like a capitulation at that point, but he struck back immediately.

Loffhagen was spurred on to give a little more seeing as he had beaten off the slight stomach ache he had felt from consuming too much water in the second set.

"When I was broken at the beginning of the third set, I think I lost concentration a bit. After that, I played a few good games to go 3-1 up after which I just wanted to get it over and done with," he added.

 Jordan Parker (USA) during the ITF Men's Circuit

He went on to win the set 6-3, but his biggest highlight is picking up his first ever ATP ranking points.

I'm very excited because this is the first week I've ever got an ATP point and it's the first time I've ever been in the semifinal of a Futures event.

In the other matches, tournament top seed Ivan Nedelko from Russia made short work of Boris Aguma's conqueror Dev Prajwal from India in straight sets.  He beat the Indian 2-0(6-1,7-5) to set up a quarter final against Kaza V another Indian.

Loffhagen will face Goran Markovic who defeated Lorenzo Bocchi (7-5, 6-2) next.