Els downs Drummond

The 47-year-old German had the match in his sights at three-up with four to play before the Fijian birdied three holes in a row.

The pair halved the 18th in par fives and went back down the 17th, with Langer birdieing for the victory.

Langer will next meet Ryder Cup star Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain.

I knew my chances would be small, but wherever I play, I play to win Bernhard Langer

Langer said: "It reminded me of that old Bible story when little David beat Goliath. That's how I felt.

"Obviously he's not happy. I wouldn't be happy if I'd lost. He was the hot favourite, but I'm always tremendously motivated and 100% professional.

"I knew my chances would be small, but wherever I play, I play to win."

Singh admitted: "To be honest I didn't play well enough to win. Bernhard didn't make a mistake. I just left it too late."

There was only one shot between the pair in the first 18 holes on Thursday and they went into lunch locked at all-square.

In the second-round of the 36-hole match, Singh began on the front foot but Langer, ranked 86th in the world, hit back to reach as much as three-up by the 25th hole.

One hole later, with Langer leading by two, play was suspended for the evening due to darkness after nearly three hours had been lost because of the morning's heavy rain.

When play resumed on Friday, Singh narrowed to one-down by the 28th but Langer went back to three-up with a birdie at the short 14th, their 32nd, before Singh embarked on his birdie blitz to send the match into extra holes.

The 41-year-old Fijian, winner of five of his last six tournaments in America and the man to end Tiger Woods's five-year reign as number one, has won the event only once - in 1997 - in 10 appearances at Wentworth.

Langer qualified courtesy of his fourth place at the Masters in April but has played relatively little golf over the past 10 months as he concentrated on overseeing Europe's triumphant Ryder Cup success at Oakland Hills in September.