Tennis: Caroline Wozniacki reaches fifth WTA final of year in Sweden

Caroline Wozniacki found herself in a familiar position on Saturday after advancing to the final of her fifth WTA tournament of the season.

The top-seeded Dane ousted unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to move to the championship match of the Ericsson Open in Bastad, Sweden.

"It's a positive that I put myself in the situation where I'm in a fifth final," said Wozniacki, who is still searching for her first championship of the year.

"I'm definitely going to try and make this one (count)."

Wozniacki will face seventh-seeded Czech Katerina Siniakova, who broke third-seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on two occasions in each set to record a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

"Tomorrow, I'll have to play aggressively, because she's aggressive as well," the 21-year-old Siniakova said. "I'll need to counter, get a lot of balls back, but also serve and return well."

Wozniacki saved four breaks points to claim the opening set before Mertens showed her resolve to win the second. Wozniacki rebounded by breaking her opponent three times in the third set to dismiss Mertens in two hours and seven minutes.

"It was a difficult match," Wozniacki said. "(Mertens) played very well, aggressively in the wind and the sun was very low. It was a combination of those three factors that made it so tough, but I tried to hang in there and be aggressive. I served well when I needed to."

Wozniacki advanced to three finals on hardcourts earlier in the season -- Doha, Dubai, and Miami -- before finishing runner-up to Karolina Pliskova for the second time in 2017 at the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

Siniakova overcame the rainy weather as well as a stern foe in Garcia to advance to her second straight tournament final at Bastad.

"It's very tough, because you're still waiting, but need to stay focused to be able to go on the court again," Siniakova said. "I kept trying to focus on my game and I'm so happy I did it."