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

Swan was badly hampered by cramp in the third set, but saved three match points on her way to winning a roller-coaster 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 today."

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. "In the third set I was cramping, but I managed to get ahead because I think she was getting frustrated.

"I felt my whole leg wanted to collapse. I think I went to the ground at one stage. I had to try to not think about it and keep going. I was struggling with moving, but took some salt straight away and that helped and I stayed really strong mentally. I knew that is one of my strengths but today proved that."

Swan's first experience of tennis came when she had lessons aged seven on a family holiday to Portugal and the coach immediately told her mother Nicki she would become a professional.

She works with Wichita State women's coach Collin Foster and Rex Coad, head professional at Wichita Country Club, but is also being supported by the Lawn Tennis Association.

Swan has been taking online school classes since August, but still uses her old high school to study and is keeping her college options open.