History in the hemline of Ashleigh Barty's skort and in the flowers of her tank top; history flowing from the strings of her racket.

In a bespoke outfit inspired by the dress with the scalloped hem that Evonne Goolagong Cawley wore when winning her first Wimbledon title half a century ago, the world No.1 defeated Germany's Angelique Kerber to reach her first final at the All England Club.

On Saturday afternoon, she will be the first Australian to play for the Venus Rosewater Dish since 1980, the year that Cawley landed the second of her Wimbledon titles. Victory would trigger something for the here and now at the All England Club: a Centre Court 'Barty Party'.

Talk of history can weigh down others on the grass - they can feel as though they've dragged a heavy bag of sepia and yesteryear on to court with them - but that's plainly not the case with the Queenslander, who invited more historical chat with her choice of outfit.

While she trailed 2-5 in the second set, Barty didn't fret, going on to win 6-3, 7-6(3) as she continues to dream big on the grass.

"This is incredible. That's as close to the best tennis match I'll ever play. Angie brought that out of me. I'm proud of myself and my team," said Barty, the first Australian semi-finalist since Jelena Dokic in 2000. "I've got the chance on Saturday to live out a childhood dream."

It's 10 years now since Barty first showed she could play on grass by taking the girls' singles title on these lawns. Until this summer though she had never gone beyond the fourth round in the ladies' singles.

Now she is just one match away from becoming only the fourth woman in the post-1968 Open era - after Ann Jones, Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo - to accomplish the junior-senior double.

As Barty said of Kerber, "she doesn't give you cheapies - she competes for every single point". Anyone who can defeat Serena Williams in straight sets in a Wimbledon final, as Kerber did in 2018, knows how to handle herself on Centre Court.

As a further illustration of Kerber's class on this surface, she had arrived for this semi-final on an undefeated run of 10 matches, having prepared for The Championships by winning a tournament in Bad Homburg in Germany.

While Barty didn't always have everything her own way in her service games - she wasn't getting any "cheapies" - she took the opening set, even dodging a breakpoint as she served for it.

Kerber led 5-2 in the second set, and served for it at 5-3. But Barty broke to love and ended up winning this match without needing a deciding set.