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Unseeded Millman won through to his first ATP 500 final with a straight-sets defeat of Reilly Opelka at the Japan Open, setting up a showdown with world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
The 30-year-old Queensland qualifier posted a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory over the 210cm tall American on Saturday in just under an hour-and-a-half in the first meeting between the pair.
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Millman saved match points to beat Bradley Klahn in the first round of qualifying en route to the main draw. He has gone on to win six-straight matches in Tokyo.
The world No.80 won 86 per cent of his first serve points and saved both break points he faced to clinch victory over Opelka, who sent down 13 aces.
Millman broke Opelka’s opening service game on his way to a 3-0 lead. After staving off a set point in the 10th game of the second set to level at 5-5, he won the last four points of the subsequent tiebreak to wrap up the win.
Millman is expected to soar 22 places to No.58 when next week’s rankings are released. He reached a career-high mark of 33 in October 2018. The Australian’s only other appearance in an ATP final was last year in Budapest, where he lost to Marco Cecchinato.
Ash Barty will meet Caroline Wozniacki or Naomi Osaka in the China Open final after the world number one squeezed through in three tense sets against Kiki Bertens on Saturday.
The Australian committed 52 unforced errors but still just about emerged victorious, saving match point in a nervy 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory in Beijing.
The 23-year-old Barty looked all set to rush into Sunday’s final and dominated the first set against the shell-shocked Bertens.
But the 27-year-old Dutchwoman struck back to win the second set of their semi-final by the same 6-3 scoreline and take the match to a decider.
They went with serve until the fifth game of the third set, when Bertens, ranked eighth in the world, profited from another Barty error to go a break up.
Bertens though lost her nerve when serving for the match, the momentum swinging back in Barty’s favour.
Barty went down 3-1 in the tiebreak, but overcame the deficit to seal the victory.