Britain’s Katie Swan produced a brilliant fightback to book her place in the final of the girls’ singles in the Australian Open yesterday.

Swan was badly hampered by cramp in the third set but saved three match points on her way to winning a rollercoaster clash with fifth seed Dalma Galfi, the 15-year-old eventually securing a 0-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 win in two hours and 36 minutes.

Annabel Croft was the last British winner of the girls’ title in Melbourne in 1984, while Laura Robson reached the final in 2009 and 2010 after winning the junior title at Wimbledon in 2008.

“It was an amazing match, it was so tough but I am so happy that I managed to get through it,” said Swan, who will face Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova in today’s final.

The match will be played on the 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Arena and Swan added: “I can’t believe I’m going to get that opportunity. I’m really excited and hopefully the nerves won’t affect my game too much. 

“I’m just going to really enjoy it and hopefully win tomorrow.”

Bristol-born Swan, whose family moved to Kansas two years ago due to her father’s job in the oil industry, looked to be heading out of the competition after losing the opening set in just 21 minutes and falling 4-2 down in the second.

However, after beating the top seed in the third round Swan was determined not to waste her chance of claiming a junior grand slam title and fought back to eventually win the set in a tie-break after 78 minutes.

Galfi was given a warning for racket abuse as 14th seed Swan raced into a 4-2 lead in the decider but the Hungarian regained her composure and won three games in a row to serve for the match at 5-4.

But Swan saved three match points and won the next two games as well to secure her place in the final.

“I went down pretty fast in the first set and had to stay strong mentally and fight for every point,” Swan said.