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Stuttgart: Caroline Wozniacki reached her third final of 2015 when she saw off Simona Halep after a marathon match over nearly three-hours in Saturday`s semi-final clash at Stuttgart`s WTA tournament.
The former world number one, who ran the 2014 New York marathon for charity, needed two hours, 58 minutes to claim a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victory and will now meet either Germany`s Angelique Kerber or American Madison Brengle in Sunday`s final.
“I felt good right through until the end,” said Denmark`s Wozniacki.
“I love these long matches and if I can run a marathon, then I can play in great games like that.
“We needed nearly three hours and that would be a pretty good marathon time.”
Wozniacki took the first set with the first break at 6-5, but the second was a topsy-turvy affair with five of the 12 games finishing in a break — three to Wozniacki and two to Halep before the Romanian levelled.
Wozniacki turned the screw in the third to break her opponent when her 3-1 lead quickly became 5-1 and although Halep rallied to bring it back to 5-2, Wozniacki served out to convert her fourth match point.
Having lost the final in Auckland last January, but won in Kuala Lumpur in March, the 24-year-old will be bidding for her second title in 2015.
There was some consolation for Romania`s Halep, who will take over from Maria Sharapova as the second ranked player in the world on the back of her run to the Stuttgart semis on clay court.
The 23-year-old was competing in her fourth semi-final of the year after winning the Shenzhen, Dubai and Indian Wells titles, but had to deal with the distraction of a death threat on Thursday night which led to heightened security in Stuttgart.
