The Australian won a tour-leading five titles this year including her second Grand Slam.
Czech Lucie Safarova took the final qualifying spot for the end-of-season WTA Finals after Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro was knocked out of the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.
Ana Ivanovic recovered from an awful start to beat Kaia Kanepi at the Brisbane International on Thursday and remain on track for a glamour meeting with Maria Sharapova.
For the first time this week Novak Djokovic needed only two sets to triumph at theRome Masters, beating Spain's David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 as he reached the final to close in on a 24th Masters 1000 title. The world number one, who is chasing a fourth title in the event, next meets Roger Federer, who knocked out fellow-Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2.
Maria Sharapova remained on course for consecutive Madrid Open titles when she recovered from dropping the second set to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday and book a spot in the semi-finals.
World No 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have been named top seeds for the first major of the season, Australian Open, which will commences on January 16.
Reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named top seeds for the Australian Open starting on Monday.
Maintaining her rich vein of form in the current season, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black bagged the women's doubles title at the WTA Toray Pacific Open with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.
Garbine Muguruza made an imposing start to the WTA Finals by confidently swotting aside Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 7-6 (4) in their White Group opener on Monday.
After the celebrity pair's first-round Wimbledon win over Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi last week, Murray tweeted: "Well that was fun... #SerAndy"
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who are touted as India's best bet for a tennis medal in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, have been seeded fourth and will be up against the Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in their opening mixed doubles match at the Games.
World No 1 Serena Williams edged an enthralling battle with third-seed Simona Halep.
Wildcard entrant Sharapova returned to action this week following her 15-month ban, but has looked like she never really went away in winning her three matches so far without dropping a set.
Sisters Serena and Venus Williams marched into the quarter-finals of the Miami Open after straight-set wins at Key Biscayne on Monday.
Johnson to meet Medvedev in Winston-Salem final
Serena Williams and defending champion Maria Sharapova remained on course for a heavyweight Madrid Open final.
Serena Williams won her eighth Miami Open title with little trouble, enjoying a 6-2, 6-0 win over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in just 56 minutes on Saturday.
Milos Raonic overcame third seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the third round at the Madrid Open on Tuesday and set up an all-Canadian clash with teenager Denis Shapovalov.
Form guide for American Serena Williams ahead of Thursday's US Open semi-final clash against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova:
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.
Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who turns 40 this year, takes on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in round one.
Top seed Simona Halep was pooled with grand slam winners Maria Sharapova and Flavia Pennetta in a formidable looking Red Group for the end-of-season WTA Finals on Friday.
The United States survived a fright from little Latvia on Saturday before winning 3-2 in a Fed Cup qualifier as Serena Williams suffered her first career singles loss in the team event. Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Slovakia, Germany, Russia and Belarus also moved through to the inaugural 12-nation showdown in Budapest.
Women's tennis's biggest names still remaining at the US Open take centre stage on Sunday with Grand Slam winners Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova all appearing on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
World number one Naomi Osaka was beaten in her opening match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, losing to France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-3 on her return to competitive action after winning last month's Australian Open.
A summary of Friday play at the French Open.
World number one Ash Barty became the first Australian woman to win the Wimbledon singles title for 41 years on Saturday when she defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final.
Home hope Bernard Tomic continued his promising form ahead of the Australian Open by overcoming Kei Nishikori to set up a Brisbane International semi-final against big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.
Novak Djokovic had to fight back from a set down to beat Thomaz Bellucci and reach the Italian Open quarter-finals.
Images from the matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London, on Monday.
Check out the most shocking upsets at this year's Wimbledon.
Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday.
Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna entered the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event of tennis competition at the Rio Olympics with a straight-set win over Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. Sania and Bopanna, who are being touted as India's medal hope at the Olympics, won their opening round match 7-5 6-4 in 73 minutes.
Fourth seed Kei Nishikori's hopes of making another magical U.S. Open run came to a quick end on Monday as last year's runner-up fell at the first hurdle, falling 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Fifth seed Simona Halep narrowly avoided a third-round upset with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win over Hungary's Timea Babos on Saturday to keep her US Open title hopes alive.
Defending champion Federer, battling a flu bug according to the local media, was made to work hard by his Bulgarian opponent before the Swiss master prevailed 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 at the Pat Rafter Arena. "It was tough. Grigor's a great shotmaker, the future's ahead of him in the game," Federer said after setting up a semi-final against Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem.
Roger Federer took 55 minutes to dispel all injury doubts with a 6-2, 6-1 routing of unheralded German Tobias Kamke in the second round of the Brisbane International on Thursday. Media speculations swirled around the fitness of the world number three less than two weeks before he launches his bid for a fifth Australian Open title and the Swiss maestro dismissed them by dropping only three games in a lop-sided contest. "I'm going to do my best to stay injury free and give myself a chance to win another grand slam," Federer said after setting up a quarter-final against Grigor Dimitrov.
Serena Williams stormed into the US Open quarter-finals in record-smashing style on Monday by easing past Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 to claim her record 308th Grand Slam match win.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the men's draw which includes five-times US Open champion and 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer as seventh seed - his first time the Swiss has been placed outside the top three in a Grand Slam in over ten years.
Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic exited the Olympic Games in the first round on Saturday, though the Serb refused to blame the wind or soaring temperatures that some players said were making it tricky to play in Rio. Ivanovic went one set up against world No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro before losing the next two error-strewn sets to the Spaniard. Ivanovic lost 2-6 6-1 6-2. "It was a tough draw for the first round," said Ivanovic, the former French Open winner currently ranked as world No. 26.
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