Wozniacki survives scare to reach maiden Melbourne Park final

MELBOURNE (Reuters): Second seed Caroline Wozniacki came through a late wobble to reach the Australian Open final for a first time with a 6-3 7-6(2) victory over Belgian Elise Mertens on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

The Dane had dominated the match until she was 5-4 and 30-0 up as she served for the victory but suffered a bout of nerves which her 22-year-old opponent fully exploited to draw level.

Wozniacki recovered her composure, though, and saved two set points before dominating the tiebreak to seal a title-decider on Saturday against either Simona Halep or Angelique Kerber.

Wozniacki, who has yet to win a grand slam title despite spending 67 weeks as world number one, sealed the victory and a place in her third major final when Mertens dumped a backhand into the net after 97 minutes.