Kerber rallies to reach Eastbourne final

Eastbourne: Fifth seed Angelique Kerber outlasted good friend Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 after two and three-quarter hours of battle to reach her second final at the ATP-WTA Eastbourne international on Friday.

The German winner, who played the title match here two years ago, beat the 2009 champion on a fifth match point in a see-saw battle on the lawns of Devonshire Park. The men`s semi-final line-up was completed a day late after Spanish third seed Feliciano Lopez, the holder, beat France`s Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 in a quarter-final which was unable to start on Thursday evening due to rain and impending darkness. Lopez reached the grass final last weekend at Queen`s club and has staked his pre-Wimbledon week on hopefully repeating as Eastbourne titleholder. Berber broke Wozniacki, a former world number one, on 12 of 17 chances, going up a double break in the final set. The Pole got one of the breaks back as Kerber was unable to serve out the victory leading 5-2 in the third. But the ninth-ranked German ended with a concluding break of her opponent a game later, sending over a cross-court winner to wrap up victory. She will play in Saturday`s final against either Heather Watson or American Madison Keys after improving to 5-3 over Wozniacki in their series. "It was a very tough match, but we played at a high standard," said the winner. "It`s never easy against Caroline, we know each other`s games so well. "I`m so happy to be in the final, I`m feeling very comfortable on grass. I`ll go for the title tomorrow just playing my game and trying to be aggressive like I was today." Kerber will improve her WTA ranking to seventh after reaching her third final of 2014, finishing runner-up in Sydney and Doha in the first two months of the year.