Wozniacki to face Halep in Australian Open final

By Levi J Parsons

MELBOURNE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Open women's final matchup has been decided, after Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep made it through their semifinal hurdle on Thursday.

First of the rank was the contest between world number two, Wozniacki and her Belgian opponent Elise Mertens.

Off to a strong start, the Danish hitter eased her way through the first set 6-3.

In the second, Wozniacki was serving for the match at 5-4, however a series of uncharacteristic double faults brought the score level to force a tie break.

"I just thought about trying to stay aggressive, trying to get a lot of first serves in, and just swing for it," Wozniacki explained to Xinhua.

"I'm really happy and proud of how I've managed to turn things around when it wasn't going my way."

Wozniacki admitted she drew inspiration from her haunting semifinal defeat to China's Li Na in 2011.

"I think that's the one that's been most disappointing to me throughout my career," she said.

"I've had many bad losses, many great wins, but that's one of the ones that hurt extra because it was going into the finals of a Grand Slam."

"But at the end of the day it's tennis, anything can happen, and that's why you have to fight till match point."

In the end, Wozniacki held on and the final score finished 3-6, 7-6 (2).

The world number two will now face off against world number one Simona Halep on Saturday, after the Romanian edged out Germany's Angelique Kerber in a gripping 3-set thriller, that had fans at the Rod Laver Arena on the edge of their seat.

After an incredibly strong start against the 2016 Australian Open Champion, Halep won two break points and blasted her way to 5-0 in the first set.

Although Halep took the opener 6-3, the momentum from that point seemed to completely change and Kerber began to regain composure and build pressure with her power left hand.

The German then battled her way through the tumultuous second set.

In the 69-minute final set, the pain and exhaustion on both player's faces was evident and the pair saved a total of five match points between them.

But despite Kerber's her vaillant efforts, the third set fell to Halep and the final score finished 6-3, 4-6, 9-7.

"I tried to stay calm, but today was like a roller-coaster," Halep said.

"It was very tough, I'm shaking now."

"She was hitting well and moving everywhere." Enditem.