Dane, 27, reaches first final
MELBOURNE, Australia — Caroline Wozniacki reached the Australian Open final for the first time with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Elise Mertens, moving within a victory of a Grand Slam breakthrough.
It’s her first Grand Slam final anywhere outside of the United States, where she lost U.S. Open finals in 2009 (to Kim Clijsters) and 2014 (to Serena Williams).
The Dane appeared to be coasting against the 22-year-old Mertens, getting breaks in the middle of each set. But she began getting tight when she was serving for the match at 5-4: From 30-15, she double-faulted twice and Mertens passed her with a forehand winner in between to make it 5-5.
The No. 37-ranked Mertens lifted, holding her serve at love and then having two set points in the next game before Wozniacki, 27, eventually held a game that lasted almost 8½ minutes.
Wozniacki dominated the tiebreaker and put memories of her last Australian Open semifinal behind her — she had match points against Li Na in the semifinal in 2011, but was unable to convert.
This time, experience helped.
“It means so much to me. I got really tight at 5-4. I kind of felt head against the wall,” she said. “I knew I had to try and stay calm.
“Once she had set points. I thought, ‘OK, now you just have to go for it … she’s nervous now too.”
Mertens, who trains at Clijsters’s academy in Belgium, was appearing in the semifinals on her debut at Melbourne Park and in just
her fifth Grand Slam tournament. She had won 10 matches in as row after successfully defending her Hobart International title two weeks ago.
She took out No. 4-seeded Elina Svitolina in straight sets in the quarterfinal but was struggling to match a consistent Wozniacki until late in the second set.
Wozniacki’s victory moved here a step closer to potentially regaining the No. 1 ranking, a position she hasn’t held in six years.
No. 1-ranked Simona Halep played two-time major winner Angelique Kerber in the late semifinal.
Roger Federer extended a five-year win streak over Tomas Berdych with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-4 victory Wednesday that sent him into the men’s semifinals.
The second seed remained on track for a sixth title and is an even stronger trophy candidate after the mid-match injury withdrawal of Rafael Nadal.
Federer, 36, will face Hyeon Chung, who eliminated American Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to become the first South Korean to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
Federer had a rough start against a player whom he has beaten in eight of their last 10 matches, with Berdych going up a break in the opening set.
But instant improvement by Federer, a 19-time Grand Slam champion, led to a monster 10th game in which he saved a set point with a downthe-line winner and broke for 5-5 on his fifth chance. Federer closed out the set in a runaway tiebreaker after 57 minutes.
He claimed the second as well but was pegged back in the third after losing an early break to his longtime opponent. But he broke again, then produced a love game for 4-2 prior to closing out his 20th victory in their 25-match series.
“I got a bit lucky in the first set,” Federer said. “I hung around and am very glad to have gotten out of it. It could have gone either way.
“Winning that set was the key to the match. Tomas played great in the first two sets and his level dropped a bit in the third.”