Kgothatso Montjane reached the Australian Open doubles wheelchair final but saw her chances of reaching her first Grand Slam singles final end at Melbourne Park on Monday.
Japanese world No2 Yui Kamiji ruined any chance for a final spot for South Africa’s leading women’s player Montjane, as she claimed a 6-1 5-7 6-0 victory to reach the singles final.
Montjane battled until the bitter end as her 26-year-old Japanese opponent needed 1hr 47min to finally put away the world No6.
After falling 1-6 behind in the first set scoreline, the 34-year-old South African had to claw her way back from 2-4 in the second set before clinching the set 7-5.
An indifferent third set ensued with Kamiji breaking a powerful Montjane serve thrice and hung on to her serves to win the third set.
But doubles provided a silver lining as Montjane joined her British partner Lucy Shuker to defeat Angelica Bernal of Colombia and Chilean Macarena Cabriliana 6-1, 6-4 in 71 minutes to reach her second Grand Slam doubles final.
The South African-British pair will next face Dutch top seeds Aniek van Koot and Diede de Groot in the doubles title decider on Tuesday.