Serena Williams has been world number one for many weeks, but she is not the world number one at the moment. When the announcer welcomed the world number one Simona Halep onto the court ahead of the fourth Australian Open match, it was Serena who walked out while wearing headphones. She quickly realised that she should enter the court after Halep and therefore turned around and let Halep acknowledge the crowd. However, it was Serena, who had the last laugh as she won the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

''Please welcome world no.1.."
*Serena enters*
''Oh wait''
😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/VmNHwVb90z

— SimoReactions (@Simoreactions) January 21, 2019

After rampaging through the early rounds without dropping a set, the 37-year-old was at least forced to work for her victory by Halep, who on paper is the top-ranked player in the world.

“It was an intense match and there were some incredible points,” Williams said.

“She’s the number one player in the world and there’s a reason why, (but) I’m such a fighter, I just never give up.”

Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam Down Under two years ago while two months pregnant and is the bookies’ favourite to claim an eighth Australian title, despite being seeded 16th.

Another major would match Margaret Court’s tally and Williams, who will meet Czech eighth seed Karolina Pliskova next, has been on a mission at Melbourne Park this year.

(With inputs from agencies)

First Published: Jan 21, 2019 19:16 IST