Tennis-Six degrees of Serena to rival Kevin Bacon fans

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Serena Williams unwittingly invented a new party game on Thursday at the Australian Open -- the six degrees of Serena.

The object of the game, unlike that with Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon where players have to trace other actors back to Bacon in six steps or fewer, is to work out how many men on the ATP Tour she has beaten, indirectly, courtesy of a victory against Andy Roddick when they were kids.

The nine-times grand slam winner was still proud of defeating Roddick in a one-set practice match when she was 11.

"My greatest match... was when I was younger and I beat Andy Roddick. He'll hate me for saying that," she joked after beating Gisela Dulko 6-3 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open.

"So indirectly, I've beaten a lot of people on the men's tour."

The 27-year-old Williams said the age difference, she is 11 months older than the men's seventh seed, was not a factor in her victory and the score was still in dispute.

"It doesn't matter. Age doesn't matter," she said smiling.

"There's an argument about the score. I think I beat him like 6-1. He says it was 6-4.

"He always says he's ready for a rematch but there's no need for a rematch."