Wozniacki ends long wait for maiden major title

Caroline Wozniacki came through nearly three hours of gruelling tennis to overcome Simona Halep and claim her first Grand Slam title under the lights of Rod Laver Arena on a hot and humid Saturday evening.

Despite an unpredictable Australian Open women's singles draw this year, it was ultimately down to the two best players on paper - No. 1 seed Halep and No. 2 seed Wozniacki - to contest what would be a first Grand Slam singles title for one of them. And it was Wozniacki who prevailed in a 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 thriller.

Before the fortnight, Wozniacki was so often the nearly woman when it came to backing up her past dominance on the women's tour with Grand Slams. A total of 67 weeks at No. 1 would not have masked the pain that two defeats in US Open finals - in 2009 and 2014 - induced.

Halep herself has come close twice, most recently when she fell to a fearless Jelena Ostapenko at Roland Garros last year. Here the Romanian gave everything, and not just in the final, having survived onslaughts from Lauren Davis in the 3rd round and former champion Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals.

With such a career-defining moment and the No. 1 ranking at stake for the winner, it was perhaps understandable that an air of anxiety hung about the opening exchanges. Wozniacki raced into a 3-0 lead, only to be pegged back to 5-5 to make the tie-break inevitable. Her deep hitting and aggressive shots being the difference as she secured the set on the first of her four set points.

Halep and Wozniacki had each saved match points en route to the final, the first occasion in the Open Era that two women had contested a major final having both come back from the brink. On several occasions on Saturday, it seemed at times that both were again walking a tightrope.

Halep later reflected that she felt it was her time to break her Grand Slam duck but acknowledged the effect of her marathon matches earlier in the tournament, suggesting that her ankles were "dead" after two weeks of tennis. "I did 100% what I could today," she said. "That's why I can say that I'm not sad for that. I'm sad that I lost the match, I was not the winner. But, you know, life goes on."

The toll on both players bodies was apparent, with both needing medical time outs as the temperature remained a sweltering 32C throughout, and a 10 minute break after the second set, which Halep won after saving several break points, was provided as the tournament's heat rule came into effect.

Both players struggled to hold serve as the match veered towards its conclusion. The last game of the match was, in many ways, a microcosm of the exhilarating back-and-forth momentum changes that had preceded it over three sets. A double fault from Halep at 30-15, followed by a magnificent point won by the Dane and finally a netted backhand sealed both players fates.

Wozniacki was naturally overcome by her new status as a Grand Slam champion: "I've dreamt of this moment for so many years and to be here today is a dream come true. My voice is shaky. I never cry, but today it's a very emotional moment."

In the women's doubles on Friday, Hungary's Timea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic overcame Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-3. It was a second women's doubles title for Mladenovic and a first for Babos.