In-form Victoria Azarenka battled past an ailing but determined second seed Angelique Kerber to set up a Miami Open final showdown against Svetlana Kuznetsova with a 6-2, 7-5 victory on Thursday.
Holder Maria Sharapova ended the encouraging run of Venus Williams to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Friday, but Serena Williams enjoyed an easy passage through to the last four.
On the men's side, the fields have already been divided into two ATP 250 tournaments.
World number one Victoria Azarenka moved into the Stuttgart indoor tournament quarter-finals on Thursday as sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki was upset by Angelique Kerber.
World number three Maria Sharapova slumped to a surprise 6-4, 6-4 defeat against German Angelique Kerber in the Paris Open quarter-finals Friday.
While 40 have tried only nine times have both Williams sisters been beaten by the same player at the same tournament and that list reads like a Grand Slam Hall of Fame with names that include; Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, who like Pliskova, pulled the double off at the US Open.
Roger Federer returned from a month-long layoff with a 6-4, 6-4 second round victory over Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Britain's Johanna Konta faces an anxious 24-hour wait before discovering whether she will make her debut at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
French second seed Marion Bartoli enjoyed two match wins in one day, including a straight-sets defeat of US Open champion Samantha Stosur, to take the Japan Open title on Sunday.
Petra Kvitova raced to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dominika Cibulkova in the Wuhan Open final on Saturday to capture her first title of the year with a ruthless display of power hitting.
World Number one Simona Halep and Japan's Naomi Osaka are among the players nominated for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Player of the Year award.
After a 48-minute battering at the hands of Serena Williams on Wimbledon's Centre Court on Thursday, the last words Elena Vesnina probably wanted to hear were 'see you later'.
Asked which thoughts, the world number two from Constanta said: "The only one, very tough thought is one set, 3-0 up, that I couldn't take that game.
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.
Order of play on the main show courts at the French Open.
Florida-born Collins battled hard in the first set on a stifling day at Rod Laver Arena but ended up steamrolled 7-6(2), 6-0 by eighth seed Kvitova.
Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes she is now ready to matching Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams.
'Virat Kohli's statement is a reflection of the bubble that most famous people either slip into or are forced into'
IMAGES from Day 8 of the US Open on Monday
Former world number four and Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova announced her retirement on Tuesday.
Here are images from a hot, hot day from Melbourne Park...
Vandeweghe's quest for maiden Slam title at Australian Open continues
Sania Mirza of India and Ivan Dodig of Croatia bested defending champions Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Konta, Sharapova fall at Rogers Cup in Toronto
World number two and top seed Caroline Wozniacki, runner-up at the south coast event last year, cruised into the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Australia's Ashleigh Barty.
Williams said the number 24 is becoming an obsession for the media who talk of little else
Former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka began her warm-up to the first Grand Slam of the year in convincing fashion with a 6-2,6-0 win over Russian Elena Vesnina in their first round match at the Brisbane International on Monday.
World number one Serena Williams and second seed Angelique Kerber progressed through the first round of the Rio Olympics tennis on Sunday despite windy conditions that delayed play on most of the smaller tennis courts.
The 24-year-old Tunisian is the only player from the continent in the women's draw and only the second Arabic woman ever to crack the top 100 in the WTA rankings.
Following is a list of Serena Williams' 23 grand slam singles titles after the American surpassed Steffi Graf's professional era record with victory at the Australian Open on Saturday:
Factbox on American Serena Williams, who plays sister Venus in the final of the Australian Open on Saturday.
Top seed Andy Murray could meet Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori in the third round, while Serena faces tricky Belinda Bencic in opening round
A Champagne cork popped somewhere on Centre Court four games into Serena Williams's Wimbledon semi-final and while it was a tad premature, her 6-2 6-0 thrashing of Elena Vesnina suggested she could celebrating something special come Saturday. The top-seeded American will be taking nothing for granted, having seen her bid to match Steffi Graf's modern era record of grand slam titles stuck one short on 21 for a year, but it was a menacing show of strength, albeit against an overawed opponent.
In the women's draw, defending champion Garbine Muguruza will play 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone
World number one Simona Halep pulled out of next week's WTA Finals due to a lower back injury.
World number one Novak Djokovic is on a French Open semi-final collision course with nine-times champion Rafael Nadal after the draw was made on Friday.
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.
World number one Serena Williams has started her clay-court season in dominant style, beating Anna-Lena Friedsam in straight sets in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome on Tuesday.
Andrea Petkovic battled back to advance to the semi-finals at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday while Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka upset yet another seed with a victory over Sara Errani.
Serena Williams remains the 'queen' of women's tennis but don't be surprised if she's no longer No 1 by the end of the year, Martina Navratilova said Thursday.
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