Tennis-Wozniacki wakes from tiebreak nightmare to find final joy

SINGAPORE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Caroline Wozniacki's joy soon turned to frustration as she frittered away five set points in the opening tiebreak but the Dane was able recompose herself and edge out Karolina Pliskova in their WTA Finals semi-final encounter on Saturday.

Wozniacki will contest her second final at the season-ending event after subduing the Czech 7-6(9) 6-3 to set up a showdown against an evergreen Venus Williams, who won a tight three-setter against Caroline Garcia.

"That was a pretty crazy first set. I was down 4-2 but broke back straightaway. Then we kind of went hand-in-hand and she had set points before we got to the tiebreaker," Wozniacki told reporters.

"Then I got a good start in the tiebreaker, 6-1, and I was feeling pretty good about it," the 27-year-old added.

"Then all of a sudden it's 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and I said 'this isn't fun anymore. Let me just try and finish this off'. At 6-all I was ready to just kill myself, basically. I was, like 'this is not fun'".

Unfortunately for Wozniacki, the see-saw nature of the set went on.

"I started thinking I should have lost this set already, so actually this is just a bonus. So I had a lot of talks with myself at that point," she said.

"So I just kept fighting. It went back and forth. Still, she had a few more set points and I managed to win that first set.

"It was very important. That broke her a little bit. I think it was important for both of us to get that first one."

Wozniacki lost to Kim Clijsters in her only other appearance in the final of the tournament in 2010 and despite losing six of seven title matches in a consistent yet frustrating season, the Dane was delighted to have one more match to play.

"I have played a lot of finals throughout my career. It's nothing new to me. I'm just going to go out there and have fun and enjoy myself," she said.

"I have played against great players this week, and it's going to be another great fight tomorrow.

"No matter what happens tomorrow, I'm very happy and proud of how I have been able to fight this week. You know, I can go on vacation feeling good about it." (Reporting by John O'Brien, editing by Pritha Sarkar)