No. 1 at stake in women’s final

Halep vs. Wozniacki winner will be atop the world rankings

M ELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA» For the second time in the tournament, Simona Halep faced match points and knew one mistake would mean an exit from the Australian Open and the likely loss of her No. 1 world ranking.

For the second time in just over a week, she attacked rather than take the safe approach. The 26-year-old Romanian tennis star saved two match points and needed four of her own against 2016 champion Angelique Kerber before winning 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 in the semifinals.

Halep will face No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki in the women’s championship match Saturday, with one of them guaranteed to win a first Grand Slam tournament title. The winner will also be No. 1 when the next world rankings are announced. Wozniacki, who defeated Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (2) in 1½ hours in the first semifinal, hasn’t held the top ranking in six years.

For Halep, playing in her first Grand Slam event as the top-seeded player, it’s a first major final beyond the clay courts of Roland Garros. She lost French Open finals to Jelena Ostapenko last year — having led by a set and a break — and to Maria Sharapova in 2014.

For Wozniacki, it’s her first Grand Slam final outside of America. The two-time U.S. Open runner-up also had to save match points to reach her first Australian Open final. She rallied from 5-1 down in the third set of her second-round win and said she’s been “playing with the house money” ever since.

Previous Australian Open winners have saved match points en route to the final, but no woman has done it in two matches.

Halep is hoping to change that, saying that saving triple match point in her third-round win against Lauren Davis that finished 15-13 in the third set had set her up mentally for the pressure of the semifinals.

“Definitely was very tough. I’m shaking now, I’m really emotional because I could win this match,” Halep said immediately after beating Kerber in another marathon. “I’m glad I could resist. Not easy in the tournament to have these matches, but I have just to enjoy.”

Halep twisted her left ankle in the first round, and said she’d made the decision then to risk it all at Melbourne Park and take a rest later.

“This match I had two match balls and I lost them, so I said that if she came back, I can do it. I had just confidence in myself,” she said.

Cilic joins elite group.

Marin Cilic is in exclusive company at the Australian Open.

With his 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2 semifinal win over 49th-ranked Kyle Edmund, Cilic became only the second man from outside the “Big Four” to reach the final at the season-opening major in a decade.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have dominated the men’s finals since 2009, with only 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka breaking the quartet’s court occupation in the championship match.

After reaching the Australian final in his 10th attempt, the 2014 U.S. Open champion will face the winner of Friday’s semifinal match between Federer, the defending champion, and Hyeon Chung.

“I’m feeling really, really good physically,” Cilic said. “I’ve played a great tournament so far with my level of tennis.