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By Jan Strupczewski and Renee Maltezou BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's leftist prime minister said on Friday he was certain euro zone finance ministers would accept Athens' request for an extended loan but Germany demanded "significant improvements" in Greek reform commitments. The start of an emergency meeting of the 19-nation Eurogroup in Brussels was postponed until 1530 GMT (10:30 a.m. EST) to allow more time for preparatory talks among Greek, euro zone and IMF officials. Hours before the talks, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in a statement to Reuters: "I feel certain that the Greek letter for a six-month extension of the loan agreement with the conditionalities that accompany it will be accepted." A report by German magazine Der Spiegel that the European Central Bank was making contingency plans for a possible Greek exit from the currency area if the talks fail, on which the ECB declined comment, highlighted the high stakes.More...