Serena Williams through to Australia Open Quarter Finals after defeating Halep

Serena Williams of the United States celebrates winning match point in her fourth round match against Simona Halep of Romania during day eight of the 2019 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Serena Williams is back in the Australian Open after winning in 2017 while five weeks pregnant.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion saw off world number 1 Simona Halep in three rounds of 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, to qualify for the quarterfinals.

To tie Margeret Court who has 24 majors to her name, Serena will have to beat Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday, then either 6th seed Elina Svitolina or Naomi Osaka who beat her at the US Open finals in 2018.

Serena had coasted through in the first round, and saved 3 break points in the third as Halep seemed to be picking up.