World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki has conquered her mental demons and ended the unbeaten summer run of unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens to be the first woman through to the Australian Open final.
Seeking her first grand slam title, the Danish star booked her place with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) victory in one hour and 37 minutes on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.
Wozniacki will face either world No.1 Simona Halep or 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in Saturday night's title showdown at Melbourne Park
Wozniacki looked to be cruising into the title decider after waltzing through the first set and then breaking Mertens to take a 5-4 lead in the second.
But in shades of 2011 when she blew a match point in her Open semi-final against China's Li Na, Wozniacki started to choke.
She admitted before the match she'd been "haunted" by that result and said it came up again when she lost eight points straight to give Mertens a 6-5 lead in the second.
"I was here in the semi-finals in 2011 and I was serving for the match against Li Na and I had a match point, and I lost it and that was definitely on my mind out there today," Wozniacki said.
"I tried to stay calm and I was lucky to get a win."
The former world No.1 felt her big-match experience proved the difference against her unseeded opponent, who'd never even played at Melbourne Park before last week.
"Obviously I have been here before. I've been in this situation before," Wozniacki said.
"I would like to think you learn every time and you kind of know how the opponent is feeling at the time too.
"So once I started my own service game on the other side, that's OK. She's nervous now too."
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 in the fourth game of the semi-final.
She took advantage of Merten's erratic play, with the world No.37 making 34 unforced errors.
But two nervy double-faults while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set handed Mertens an invitation back into the contest.
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.
Wozniacki will move back to world No.1 if current queen Halep loses her semi-final later on Thursday.
If they clash in the final, the winner will leave Melbourne with the top ranking as well as the trophy and $4 million winner's purse.
Having saved two match points from a set, 5-1 and 40-15 down in the second set of her second-round escape against Jana Fett, Wozniacki is one win away from emulating Kerber's incredible recovery to win the title two years ago.
Kerber fought off a match point in her first-round success over Misaki Doi in 2016, before fighting back to win her maiden grand slam title with victory over Serena Williams in the final.
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