Imperious Aryna Sabalenka marches on at Australian Open

In the process, she followed in the footsteps of several tennis greats with a few milestones.

The Belarusian looked in trouble early on, being comfortably broken in her opening service game - before being just one point away from going down a 3-0 deficit. However, in typical fashion, Sabalenka broke Badosa in back-to-back service games to seal the set 6-4.

The world No 1 spoke about the start of the match during her on-court interview.

"Honestly, I have no idea (how she turned it around). I was just trying to build for the next games, then somehow I was able to turn around the match in that crucial game," Sabalenka said.

The two rivals have one of the closest relationships on the WTA Tour, having previously partnered up in doubles, as well as often speaking fondly of each other

"Super tough match, playing against a friend. I'm super happy to see her at her highest level," the three-time Grand Slam winner said. "I think after a couple of matches against each other, we decided to put it (friendship) aside, and here she wanted it badly, we both wanted it badly. Here we are just opponents, no matter what happens on the court we are going to be friends after our matches."

On Saturday, the Belarusian has the chance to become just the sixth woman in the Open Era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles - joining Margaret Court (1969-71), Evonne Goolagong (1974-76), Steffi Graf (1988-90), Monica Seles (1991-93), and Martina Hingis (1997-99).

This potential record was something that she was asked about after the semi-final win.

"You just saying that, I have goosebumps. Honestly, I'm just so proud of myself, I'm so proud of my team that we can put ourselves in such a situation, I'm privileged. If I'm able to put myself in history, it's going to mean a lot," she said.

"At first, I dreamed about winning a Grand Slam, and now I have this opportunity. Now I'm going to go out there and leave everything I have in the final."

Regardless of the result in the final, Aryna Sabalenka's semi-final win marked multiple records.

Perhaps the most impressive, the world No 1 is just the fifth woman in the Open Era to reach five or more consecutive Grand Slam hard court finals. In this, she joins Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Martina Hingis.

More relevant to the Australian Open, she is the eighth woman in the Open Era to reach three or more finals down under.

Additionally, Sabalenka is just the third woman in the last decade to win 20 or more consecutive matches at the same Grand Slam event - with Serena Williams (Wimbledon and US Open) and Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros) being the other two.

In Saturday's championship match, the Belarusian will face either world No 2 Iga Swiatek or former Grand Slam finalist Madison Keys.

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