Wozniacki seals spot in Australian Open final

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark reached her first Australian Open final with a straight sets victory over Belgium's Elise Mertens here on Thursday.

The second seed took an hour and 37 minutes to dispatch one of the tournament's surprise performers, world number 37 Mertens, in straight sets 6-3 7-6 (7-2) at the Rod Laver arena here, reports Efe.

After struggling to trouble her more illustrious opponent in the first set, the Belgian made the second much more of a contest, pushing the world number two to a tie-break after saving a match point at 5-3.

"I got really tight at 5-4 (second set). I felt like I was hitting against a wall," Wozniacki said after the match.

"Serving for the match against Na in 2011 was definitely on my mind today, but I tried to stay calm and I was lucky to get the win," she added.

The defeat brings an end to Mertens' surprising run to the tournament's last four, which also saw her knock out 4th seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.

The victory for Wozniacki means she has improved on her best ever showing in Melbourne when she was knocked out at the semi-final stage in 2011 by China's Li Na.

The Dane will play in her third career Grand Slam final on Saturday, when she will face either Romania's world number one Simona Halep or Germany's Angelique Kerber.

Wozniacki will take over the number one spot if Halep loses to Kerber on Thursday.

--IANS

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