Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki will face-off in the Australian Open women's final. Photo / Getty Images
Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki will face-off in the Australian Open women's final. Photo / Getty Images
Some tennis champions – think of Martina Hingis or Serena Williams – arrive so fully formed that their first major title comes out of the blue. Yet Saturday morning's Australian Open finalists have not been so fortunate. Whoever ends up breaking her grand-slam duck, she would have followed the most scenic route to success.
In one corner, you have 26-year-old Simona Halep, who was just a couple of games away from lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in both 2014 and 2017, but saw each opportunity slip away as she was outmuscled by a more aggressive player.
In the other, we find 27-year-old Caroline Wozniacki – part-time model, actress and marathon runner. Should Wozniacki get across the line, she will be tennis' equivalent to Indiana Jones, having crossed rope bridges and dodged rolling boulders on the way to the ultimate prize.
Wozniacki had an early crack at a major final at 19, when she lost to Kim Clijsters in New York. But the one that really stung came two years later.
In 2011, she was officially the best player in the world for all but one week of the year. Then she let a match point go by against Li Na in the Australian Open semi-final, and her confidence took a significant hit.
"That's the one that's been most disappointing to me throughout my career," Wozniacki admitted on Thursday, after easing past Belgium's Elise Mertens in the semi-final. "I felt like I was playing better on the day. I felt like it was my time. We're seven years on, and it's still there."
Caroline Wozniacki. Photo / AP Photo
Wozniacki's tenacity can only be admired, for it has taken her six years to climb back to where she was. Six years of being a fringe contender. Six years of being asked about the lack of a major title on her resume, her litany of failed coaching appointments, and her broken engagement with Rory McIlroy.
Wozniacki did reach another US Open final in 2014, where she lost to Serena Williams, her best friend on the tour. But there was also a low moment in August 2016, when she dipped to the undignified position of No 74 in the world. Having won only 13 matches all year, and suffering from niggling injuries in an ankle and forearm, she came up against world No 146 Taylor Townsend in the first round of the US Open and lost the first set. Would she still have the hunger to keep scrapping?
The answer, as you will already have guessed, was yes. Wozniacki outlasted Townsend, going on to reach the semi-finals of that tournament, and her direction of travel has been upward ever since.
Three months ago, she reached a minor crescendo when she beat Venus Williams in the final of the WTA Finals in Singapore, thus sealing the most important title of her career so far. But what she really wants is a major.
Wozniacki and Halep both deserve huge credit for the way they have responded to previous frustrations. Rather than sticking to the tried and tested, a defensively minded strategy that comes unstuck in the biggest moments, they have tooled up their games with extra firepower.
In Wozniacki's case, her increasingly fearless attitude on the court may stem from growing serenity off it. In November, she accepted another offer of marriage from another high-profile athlete, the now-retired basketballer David Lee.
"Having David there by my side, there's always small things that he tells me," she said. "He's so positive and so happy all the time. It's great to have that with you on your team."
Coming into Melbourne this year, several experts – including Michael Joyce, Johanna Konta's coach – claimed that the draw was so open that upwards of 20 different players could win it.
Simona Halep. Photo / Photosport
This position might now look slightly daft, given that we have ended up with the world's top two players in the final (remarkably, the last time No 1 played No 2 on the women's tour was exactly three years ago, when Williams beat Maria Sharapova here in Melbourne).
But let's not sound too wise after the event. This has still felt like a brilliantly unpredictable tournament, and both survivors have staved off multiple match points to reach the final – a first in WTA history.
Wozniacki faced two of them against world No 119 Jana Fett in the second round, but outlasted her unknown opponent in a pair of rugged rallies.
Halep, too, should really have gone out to Lauren Davis in the third round, when she was extended to 15-13 in the deciding set. She then saw off Angelique Kerber in a see-sawing semi-final that must rate as the match of the year to date.
Should Halep win, she would be the first woman ever to survive match points in two different matches on the way to a major title. Should she lose, she would probably be inconsolable. But the same could be said of Wozniacki.
Imagine it, your hand nearly on the prize and suddenly a trapdoor opens under your feet. For one of these redoubtable women, tennis will soon be the cruellest of sports.
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