Wozniacki beats Mertens to reach final

World No 2 Caroline Wozniacki is the first woman through to the Australian Open final after ending the undefeated summer run of unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens.

Seeking her first grand slam title, the Danish star booked her place with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) victory in 1hr 37min on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne yesterday.

Wozniacki will face either world No 1 Simona Halep or 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in tomorrow night’s title decider.

The 27-year-old will be contesting her third grand slam final after losing the 2009 and 2014 US Open deciders, to Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams respectively.

Wozniacki made an early statement against Mertens, breaking the 22-year-old who was making her first appearance at Melbourne Park in the fourth game of the semi-final.

Wozniacki looked to be cruising to victory after taking the first set with ease and then going up 5-4 in the second and serving for the match.

She took advantage of Merten’s erratic play, with the world No 37 making 34 unforced errors. But two nervy double-faults handed Mertens the break back – and invitation back into the contest.

The Belgian smelt a choke in the offing, reeling off seven straight points to go up 6-5.

Mertens had two set points but couldn’t close it out herself, with Wozniacki belting a forehand to force a tiebreak.

With the pressure on both players, Wozniacki’s consistency and big-match experience proved key with the former world No 1 dominating the tiebreak.

Meanwhile, Queenstown’s Ben Mclachlan has just missed becoming the latest ‘‘Kiwi’’ to make a grand slam men’s doubles final.

Mclachlan, who plays under the Japanese flag, and doubles partner Janlennard Struff, of Germany, lost in three sets to seventh seeds Oliver Marach (Austria) and Mate Pavic (Croatia) in their Australian Open semifinal yesterday.

The duo went down 6-4 5-7 6-7 (4-7) to end their hopes of making the final, with Mclachlan trying to emulate the feat of New Zealand’s Michael Venus, who won the French Open men’s doubles title with Ryan Harrison (US) last year.