Wellington-born Dan Manlow reached the first ITF Futures semi-final of his career after coming through three rounds of qualifying and three rounds in the main draw.
Until now, Manlow’s best finish in a 2014 ITF Futures event had been reaching the last 32 at the F1 in Gatineau, Canada and at the F2 in Sherbrooke, Canada. But after a blistering performance at the F10 in Harlingen, Texas, USA, the 23-year-old has moved up to just outside the world’s top 1000 after earning eight ATP Tour ranking points from his recent last four finish.
Entering as a qualifier, it wasn’t a simple task to reach the semi-finals. Manlow had to successfully navigate three rounds of qualifiers just to make the main draw. A string of good performances saw him through, conceding just 13 games in his three matches en route.
Manlow got off to a solid start in the main draw with a straight sets win over a fellow qualifier, Logan Powell, USA, before showing some gritty fighting spirit to fend off a potential comeback from Kyle McCorrow, USA, in the second round 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Another three-setter followed as Manlow was pushed all the way by American wild card Connor Smith in the quarter-finals. The Somerset man eventually won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 after a lengthy encounter.
The semi-finals saw a step-up in opposition for Manlow as he took on the tournament’s second seed Dan Smethurst, GB, for a place in the final. A tight and nervy first set went the distance and eventually with the seedings as Smethurst took it 7-1 on a tie-break. Manlow's resistance faded slightly in the second set and fellow Brit Smethurst showed no mercy as he moved further ahead and closed out the set and the match, sealing a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over Wellington’s Manlow.
On the back of his run through the tournament, Manlow has now climbed to a world ranking of 1081 and will surely move inside the world’s top 1000 if he can repeat the performance that saw him make the semi-finals, despite starting as a qualifier.
Click Here for Dan Manlow’s ITF player profile
Click Here for more information on his draw at the Harlingen, Texas F10 ITF Futures event