Pavlyuchenkova booked her place in her first-ever Grand Slam final with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Tamara Zidanšek.

Krejcíková in her turn was made to work a lot harder with a 7-5, 4-6 & 9-7 win over Maria Sakkari.

Speaking of reaching her first Slam final, Pavlyuchenkova said it has been a long road.

“It's been a long road. It's been a lot of ups and downs. It's been a tough one.

“I definitely didn't expect this year being in the final. I guess you can't expect those things.

“I was just there working hard, doing everything possible. I just said to myself, ‘You know what, this year let's do whatever it takes, anything you can do to improve your game, your mentality’.

“I started working with a sports psychologist, everything. Just, I wanted to give it a try so I have no regrets after.”

The final will be contested on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, on Friday it's the men's semi-finals with two mouth-watering matches with Novak Djokovic up against Rafael Nadal, while Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Alexander Zverev.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport