Her opponent will be chasing Steffi Graf, but Angelique Kerber has the German legend on her side.
No German woman has won a major since her idol Graf triumphed at the 1999 French Open, but Kerber will have the chance on Saturday night after progressing to the Australian Open final with a 7-5, 6-2 win over unseeded Briton Johanna Konta in an hour and 22 minutes on Thursday. 
Asked if she would seek out Graf ahead of the match, Kerber said Graf had already taken the initiative. "I think she wrote to me, but I wasn't able to check," Kerber said after the match.
Kerber visited Graf in Las Vegas early last year, and credits the four-time Australian Open champion for instilling belief in her abilities. "She was just telling me that I am on a good way."
Yet to break her country's drought, Kerber, 28, will need to defeat world No.1 Serena Williams, who thumped fourth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska in the first of the two semi-finals held on Rod Laver Arena. Kerber claimed she had "nothing to lose" against the six-time open champion. "Right now I don't have pressure any more. I have showed myself that I'm one of the best players in the world. I'm proud of this."
While Kerber will be playing in her first grand slam final, Williams can draw level with Graf with her 22nd major title, which would leave her behind only Australian Margaret Court (24).
Williams was reluctant to turn her mind to such numbers. "I definitely block it out," Williams said after her 6-0, 6-4 victory over Radwanska. "I was one off last year, too. If I don't win on Saturday, I'll still be one off. It took me forever to get to 18 [and draw level with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert]. I was so stressed out. I don't want to relive that at all."
Seventh-seeded Kerber entered the match against tournament surprise package Konta as favourite. But whereas Williams had powered her way past Radwanska, Konta provided relatively stiff opposition, drawing Kerber into lengthy baseline rallies. The world No.47 had a break point in Kerber's first service game, and broke in the next two, winning four games in a row to edge ahead midway through a tight first set.
The second was considerably easier, with a pair of breaks enough to steer Kerber through. She becomes the 15th different woman to face Williams in a major final, and the first German woman to make the Australian Open final since Anke Huber lost to Monica Seles in the 1996 decider.