Estonian tennis player Glinka reaches semifinal in Kingston

Estonian tennis player Daniil Glinka, seeded sixth at the Challenger 75 tournament in Kingston, Jamaica, defeated Frenchman Arthur Mailot 6:3, 6:4 in the quarterfinal. Glinka currently sits at 160th in the ATP rankings, while Mailot is ranked 252nd.

An unusual situation arose at the start of the second set when Mailot was late returning after the break between sets. The umpire awarded a point to Glinka, and following a dispute the tournament's chief umpire was called to the court. The decision was upheld, so Mailot began the second set serving at 0:15.

Glinka capitalized on the situation and immediately secured a break, which proved to be the only break of the entire second set and sealed the win for the Estonian.

Semifinal opponent

In the semifinal, to be played Saturday night, Glinka will face fourth seed Pedro Martinez of Spain (ranked 151st in the ATP), who beat Bolivian Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in three sets, 6:7 (4:7), 6:4, 6:3.

Ranking boost

Thanks to the points earned in Kingston, Glinka is guaranteed to rise from his current 160th spot and set a new career-best world ranking. Should he reach the final in Kingston, he would likely break into the world's top 150 and become Estonia's number one ranked player.

This marks Glinka's seventh career semifinal at Challenger-level tournaments. He has won three of his previous six semifinals.