Petr Korda completed another extraordinary chapter in his comeback by reaching the men's final at the Australian Open. Korda, the sixth-seeded Czech who has mostly been in the Grand Slam wilderness during his 11 years as a professional, sealed a 61 6-4 1-6 6-2 victory over Slovak Karol Kucera.

Thirty-year-old Korda will now start as favourite in Sunday's final against Chilean ninth seed Marcelo Rios or Frenchman Nicolas Escude.

Korda's last Grand Slam final appearance was in the 1992 French Open, when he was beaten by Jim Courier. Since then his career has hit an all-time low and rebounded in a spectacular way.

Korda had operations on a hernia and a severe groin problem in 1995 and 1996 that nearly forced him to quit.

He came back to beat world number one Pete Sampras at the US Open last September, only to withdraw from the quarter-final because of illness.

"Now here I'm probably hitting the ball better than ever, moving better than ever," he said.

Though Kucera is unseeded, the victory in the 127-minute match was still a major success for the Czech.

And, in a special show for the fans, Korda performed his usual post-match celebrations with an extraordinary gymnastic display of three cartwheels, two scissorkicks and a spreadeagle jump.

"It's my way of expressing how happy I am. I still can't believe it," said Korda. "People can see how well I'm hitting the ball and how I'm enjoying tennis."

As in earlier rounds, Korda suffered a third-set lapse, when he only managed to win one game.

In the final set, though, he broke Kucera's first and third service games to clinch victory.