Under the lights on the stadium court, Williams smashed 39 winners to defeat Azarenka 7-5, 6-3 in a rematch of the 2016 final, which the Belarusian won.
New world number one Ashleigh Barty has suffered a pre-Wimbledon injury scare, withdrawn from this week's Eastbourne grasscourt tournament with a recurrence of a right arm injury.
Rafael Nadal rallied from a set down to ease past Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the Italian Open quarter-finals on Friday and set up a mouth-watering clash against long-time adversary Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday's final. Djokovic plotted a similar path to the Spanish clay-court king when the Serb lost the first set against Japan's Kei Nishikori before recovering to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 and seal an open-era record 51st career meeting against Nadal.
Plotting a path to the Australian Open has never been trickier or more uncertain. Even the best players are baffled about the best way to prepare for their annual trek Down Under.
Unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova beat Britain's Johanna Konta 7-5, 7-6(2) to reach the French Open final.
Russia, last year's runners-up, were unable to call on world number six Maria Sharapova who was injured
Second seed Garbine Muguruza, bidding to add the Wimbledon crown to her French Open title, was sensationally beaten in the second round on Thursday by Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-3, 6-2 in the shock of the tournament so far.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Monday.
Maria Sharapova's outfit sparkled even if her play sometimes didn't during her grand slam return at the US Open but the former world number one's run to the fourth round showed she is back in business on and off the court.
IMAGES from the matches played at the Miami Masters on Sunday
Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov crushed second seed Dominic Thiem and third seed Alexander Zverev respectively to set up an all-Russian semi-final at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Friday.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka advanced to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals on Thursday to set up their first meeting since the American's infamous row with an umpire overshadowed last year's US Open final.
South Korean Chung Hyeon managed to hang around against Roger Federer a little longer this time around, but only just, as the Swiss maestro advanced to the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open 7-5, 6-1 on Thursday.
De Minaur, 20, went the entire tournament without facing a break point, and the Australian fittingly clinched victory with a deft serve-and-volley backhand winner.
With the unique format at the WTA Finals, it is all about how you finish rather than how you start as new champion Agnieszka Radwanska proved perfectly in Singapore this week.
Images from Day 11 of the 2020 French Open at Roland Garros, in Paris, on Wednesday.
World number one Serena Williams was at her lethal best as she crushed Romanian Simona Halep 6-0, 6-4 to romp into the semi-finals of the Western and Southern Open on Friday.
Novak Djokovic continued his Wimbledon preparations by beating American Donald Young 6-2, 7-6(9) on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Aegon International tournament at Eastbourne.
Afghanistan registered a thumping 202 runs victory over New Zealand to move into the Super League semi-finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Christchurch on Thursday.
Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday.
For the second straight year Serena Williams saw her bid for a seventh U.S. Open title halted in the semi-finals with a 6-2 7-6(5) loss to Karolina Pliskova on Thursday that also ended her long reign as world number one.
Belgium's Elise Mertens rallied from a set down to beat top seed Simona Halep 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and clinch her first Premier-level title at the Qatar Open on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal swept into the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday with a ruthless 6-4, 6-1 victory over Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov. The top seed, who will reclaim the world number one ranking from Roger Federer if he wins his eighth title in Rome, turned in a near-flawless performance, losing only five service points as he honed in on victory in an hour and 22 minutes.
Naomi Osaka eased into the second round of the Italian Open on Monday with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over former world number one Victoria Azarenka, on a day in which local favourite Roberta Vinci called time on her career.
Angelique Kerber, who will reclaim the world number one ranking on Monday, breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 second-round victory over fellow German Andrea Petkovic at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic had to fight back from a set down to beat Thomaz Bellucci and reach the Italian Open quarter-finals.
Novak Djokovic and Rogerer Federer loom over Melbourne Park for the year's opening Grand Slam as favourites for the Australian Open as questions remain as to whether one of Generation Next could finally end their stranglehold.
Russian sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova claimed her third title of the year by beating seventh-seeded Australian Daria Gavrilova in the final of the Hong Kong Tennis Open on Sunday.
Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza fine-tuned her preparations for this month's U.S. Open by crushing Simona Halep 6-1, 6-0 in the Cincinnati Open final on Sunday.
Top seeded Ash Barty overcame a slow start to defeat Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1, while Simona Halep battled past Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 7-5 6-4 in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday.
Nadal, playing his first match since losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semi-finals, fell behind 5-2 in the tiebreak before roaring back to prevail in his first career meeting with world number 53 Evans.
Ailing knees, Father Time and even a resurgent Victoria Azarenka stand in the way of Serena Williams clinching her seventh Australian Open title and giving her one more shot at an achievement that would cap her storied career.
IMAGES of the all the action from Day 2 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Tuesday
Photos from matches on Day 2 at the Australian Open on Tuesday
List of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated):
Serena Williams regained her composure after smashing her racquet and being on the brink of defeat to beat Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Saturday and reach the title match at the WTA Finals.
Serena Williams squandered four match points and blew a 5-1 lead in the decider to fall to seventh seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4 4-6 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Ana Ivanovic recovered from her opening loss to race to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over an out-of-sorts Eugenie Bouchard on Wednesday, putting the world number seven back into the mix for a WTA Finals last-four berth.
Germany's Alexander Zverev won the battle of the young guns against Denis Shapovalov on Saturday to set up a Madrid Open final against Austria's Dominic Thiem.
Serena Williams crashed out of the US Open after losing in the semi-final to Karolina Pliskova costing her a shot at a 23rd Grand Slam title and resulted in her losing her record 187th straight week at number one.
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