World No.6 Marin Cilic has become the first Croatian to make the final of the Australian Open after bringing unseeded Briton Kyle Edmund’s dream summer to an end.

The 2014 US Open champion was unstoppable on serve and relentlessly aggressive on Thursday night as he powered his way to a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win on Rod Laver Arena.

He will face titleholder Roger Federer or South Korean rising star Hyeon Chung in Sunday night’s championship decider.

The victory ensures Cilic will finish the tournament at a career-high ranking of No.3, regardless of the result in his third final at a major.

Bidding to become just the fourth Brit to make a grand slam final in the Open era – and the third at Melbourne Park – Edmund struggled with nerves in the biggest match of his career.

The 23-year-old sent down a double-fault off his first serve and conceded an early break as Cilic took the first set in just 35 minutes.

Edmund left the court for a medical timeout before clashing heatedly with the chair umpire, who had awarded a point to Cilic after he successfully challenged a fault call.

Kyle Edmund argues with Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli during the match. Photo: AAP

Edmund’s argument that he was hindered by the linesman’s call fell on deaf ears despite the youngster pleading for the match referee to be called.

“That’s rubbish,” Edmund told the chair umpire.

“Get the referee, I’m not having it.

“If the call is coming when I’m hitting the ball, it’s hindrance. Every time it works like that, why is it different now?”

The incident appeared to fire Edmund up but it wasn’t enough for him to overcome his rival’s deadly serve as the Croatian prevailed in two hours and 18 minutes.

Cilic fired 11 aces and held serve throughout an otherwise evenly-poised contest.

A victory for Edmund would have propelled him above injured star Andy Murray as the No.1-ranked British male.

Edmund later admitted he had been struggling with an injury for part of the match, but wouldn’t elaborate.

“Yeah, there’s something but whatever,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate, it happens. I’m definitely disappointed about it but it’s one of those things where I have to look at the whole week.

“Making the semi-finals of a grand slam is definitely something that I can be very happy with and really take that forward and build from it, take belief and confidence from it, basically.”

Instead the world No.49 will have to make do with his deepest run at a grand slam, which included highly impressive victories over Bulgarian third seed Grigor Dimitrov and 11th-seeded Kevin Anderson.

Halep and Wozniacki to meet in women’s final

World No.1 Simona Halep survived a gripping three-set semi-final against Angelique Kerber to book a meeting with Caroline Wozniacki in the women’s Australian Open decider on Saturday night.

Wozniacki exorcised the demons of her harrowing 2011 semi-final loss to Li Na with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) triumph over Elise Mertens, before a heroic Halep staved off two match points to deny Angelique Kerber 6-3 4-6 9-7 in one of the most pulsating last-four showdowns seen at Melbourne Park in years.

Halep and Wozniacki will both be chasing an elusive first major singles title on Saturday night, as well as duelling for the world’s top ranking.

Read the full report here.

-AAP