Serena, a six-times champion in New York who is seeded 17th, will start her campaign against Polish world number 60 Magda Linette and could face Venus in the third round before a possible fourth-round showdown with Romanian top seed Halep.
Sloane Stephens was keen to swat away any references to a controversial clash against Victoria Azarenka at last year's Australian Open as the American advanced to a possible fourth-round clash against the two-times champion on Monday.
Images from Day 11 of the 2020 French Open at Roland Garros, in Paris, on Wednesday.
IMAGES from the matches played at Miami Miasters in Key Biscayne, Florida, on Wednesday
Alize Cornet fought tooth and nail but the local favourite's French Open run came to an end when she was knocked out 6-2, 7-6(9) in the fourth round by Ukrainian 19th seed Elina Svitolina on Sunday.
Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina powered into the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina on Thursday.
Images from matches played on Day 5 at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park on Friday
The French Open witnessed a stunning upset on its very first day as 18-year-old Anastasia Potapova outclassed Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2 in the first round match on Sunday.
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.
The 36-year-old has been practising hard on the grass and few would bet against her becoming the first mother to win the title since Evonne Cawley 38 years ago.
A calm Sloane Stephens picked her shots to perfection to overcome Japan's Naomi Osaka in a battle between the last two US Open champions at the WTA Finals on Monday before top seed Angelique Kerber was upset by Kiki Bertens.
Maria Sharapova's US Open preparations took a major blow with the Russian World No 2 forced to withdraw from next week's WTA event in Toronto.
Novak Djokovic destroyed a woeful Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 to book his place in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.
Four times now, twice at Wimbledon (2018, 2019) and at the US Open (2018, 2019) Serena Williams has come agonizingly close to that 24th Grand Slam only to fall at the final hurdle.
Holder Serena Williams survived her toughest challenge yet at this year's French Open as she battled into the fourth round with a 6-4, 7-6(10) win over Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in a rain-disrupted match on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal reached the Olympic Games quarter-finals on Thursday, winning the first of 10 matches he will need to sweep in just four days if he is to secure triple Rio gold. The 2008 champion defeated Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 for his eighth win over the Frenchman in nine meetings. Nadal, a 14-time major winner, is playing in his first tournament in two months after a wrist injury caused an early withdrawal from the French Open.
Images from the third day at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, in New York, on Wednesday:
'The larger number of patients, who are being affected by COVID-19, are essentially people who have a history of heart disease to begin with, and then experience a more severe form of the infection with COVID-19, because of the existing risk factor.'
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
Nick Kyrgios continued his impressive run of form ahead of this month's Australian Open by powering the host nation to the mixed-team Hopman Cup title against Ukraine in Perth on Saturday.
Muguruza used her experience to get out of trouble, eventually set up a meeting with Ukrainian 10th seed Elina Svitolina in just over two hours under a relentless sun at Indian Wells.
Nadal faced no break points in a ruthless display to set up a meeting with Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
The 16-times Grand Slam champion, who has been slightly ill lately, was kept on his toes before racing to victory to set up a meeting with seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Britain's Johanna Konta will become the first British woman to reach the top 10 of the WTA rankings for 32 years on Monday after reaching the China Open final on Saturday.
Images from Day 7 at the US Open.
"Specifically, with Bouchard we are comfortable with our decision of putting her on Ashe, there are a lot of matches to schedule today, things could have gone many different ways," USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier told Reuters.
Images from Day 9 of the French Open in Paris on Monday.
At one stage Yuki was a break up, serving for the opening set but lost his serve and eventually the set. After drawing parity, Yuki twice lost his serve to fall behind 0-3 in the decisive set and never recovered.
The 2009 champion who will next face Roger Federer, saved two match points in the fourth set of what was arguably the best of the tournament so far.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who made the third round of the 1997 US Open also at 15, was the previous youngest player to advance to that stage of a grand slam.
"I think she will win a Grand Slam. Which one and when I don't know, but definitely clay is a good surface for her."
Rediff.com takes a look at some interesting highlights of the tournament.
Russia's Elena Vesnina ousted German second seed Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Tuesday.
From selfies to fist fights, Rediff.com has the best pictures from the last week snapped right here...
China's Su Bingtian held off his opponents with a late burst of speed to win the event in 9.92 seconds.
Pliskova will be guaranteed toppling Germany's Angelique Kerber if she prevails against Halep who would need to go on and take the title to seize the top ranking.
Belarusian ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka held off a spirited challenge from American Alison Riske to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and successfully defend her Wuhan Open title on Saturday.
Svetlana Kuznetsova opened the defence of her Sydney International title with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu on Sunday as the Australian Open warm-up event suffered a pair of big-name withdrawals.
Halep became the first Romanian to reach the summit of the women's rankings when she beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing, a feat she feels is the high point of her career to date.
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