Adelaide 25-year-old Luke Saville lost a three-set heartbreaker while Arina Rodionova gave up an early 3-0 lead to bow out in straight sets.

Saville lost his first match of the week 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 to Lorenzo Giustino after a winning span stretched to eight across singles and doubles.

Giustino conceded he only won by claiming crux points.

“He just played much better than me,” the 27-year-old from Naples said. “He broke hard, he was confident and he just hit and pushed me.

“The second set was too easy, but the first set was very important. I won 7-6, but it was very tight because I saved a lot of break points.

“I don’t know how [I won], but I think I just played better in the important points.”

The 2012 world junior No.1 broke the serve of Giustino in the third game of the match before the Italian returned the favour in the next game.

The pair held serve until the tiebreak when Saville returned three points but Giustino broke on five to take the game 7-5 and first set.

Saville broke in the second game, got out to a 3-0 and did it again to force a third set.

But the 12th seed fought on, nearly breaking Saville twice. Giustino did so in the third set’s 11th game and then held his serve to earn his first berth in a final since losing to Dutchmen Robin Haase on clay in Romania 7-6, 6-2 in September 2016.

“I made a lot of semi-finals but to reach finals I haven’t had much luck,” he said.

He will face top-seed Lloyd Harris in Sunday’s final.

The South African has not dropped a set in Launceston and proved too strong for Israeli Duda Seli 6-3, 6-3.

Russian fourth-seed Irina Khromacheva powered away from Arina Rodionova after a sluggish start to win 6-3, 6-1.

She was later thankful to pull through to the women’s final relatively unscathed.

“I’m happy today that it wasn’t a drama like [Friday] after I had a really tough match,” she said. “It was three sets, I twisted my ankle, so I didn’t know how it would feel for this match.

“I can only say thanks to the physio – he helped me during the match that I still felt there is something.”

Khromacheva stunningly won 12 of the final 13 games turning around a 6-0, 6-3 loss against the Russian-born Melburnian when they last met on grass last year.

The 23-year-old will play in her second final in three months since winning in straight sets at Mumbai.

Unseeded Kazakh Elena Rybakina also advanced into the Launceston final in a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over Belgian Maryna Zanevska.

In the men’s doubles final, Sydneysider Max Purcell and Saville defeated Japan’s Hiroki Moriya and Egyptian Mohamed Safwat 7-5, 6-4.

Taiwanese pair Kai-Chen Chang and Ching-Wen Hsu spoiled an Australian double in a 6-2, 6-4 women's win over Alexandra Bozovic and Isabelle Wallace.