HORWICH tennis star George Morgan is on cloud nine after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open boys’ singles.

The 17-year-old, who last year won the prestigious Orange Bowl title in Florida, the unofficial junior world championships, continued his stunning rise to prominence with a 5-7 6-2 6-3 victory over Jeson Patrombon of the Philippines.

It was an easier passage than his previous round, however, when Morgan edged out Mate Delic of Croatia 10-8 in the third set.

He was due to face top seed and ITF junior number one Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic overnight in the semi-finals – with Veselywinning each of his singles matches in straight sets as well as reaching the doubles final with Slovakian Filip Horansky.

It is a fantastic achievement for Morgan, who also reached the final of the boys’ doubles at Wimbledon last summer, and his mother Yvonne has revealed how proud she is to see her son mixing it with the best in the world.

“I am so proud – but then I always am,” she said.

“I followed the match on the internet through a live point-bypoint scoreboard and I was so nervous for him but he came through and I was delighted.

“It was worth staying up through the night for.

“George is really turning from a lad into a man now and we are so excited for him.”

Amazingly, for a junior player of such standing, George is still on the lookout for sponsorship to help deal with the costs of playing at the world’s top tournaments.

Any business that can help him can contact Yvonne on 07944 139423.