Premium
Simona Halep saved two match points before completing a 6-3 4-6 9-7 win against Angelique Kerber in an epic Australian Open semi-final in Melbourne.
Number one seed Halep completed the victory on her fourth match point after earlier saving two match points to deny Kerber a place in the final two years after she won the title in Melbourne.
Halep's victory over two hours and 20 minutes on Rod Laver Arena means there will be a new women's champion at the season's first Grand Slam on Saturday with the top spot in the rankings also on the line against former number one Wozniaki.
A wildly unpredictable match veered one way, then the other, before Romania's Halep finally broke Kerber's resistance to claim victory on her fourth match point when her exhausted opponent fired a backhand over the baseline.
When Halep won the first five games in only 14 minutes it seemed the expected battle royal between two of the game's most ferocious competitors would turn into a damp squib.
But Kerber roared back and had two match points at 6-5 in a brutal deciding set before Halep turned it around with some brave hitting to seal victory before an adoring audience.
