Britain's Jamie Murray gained an early claim to bragging rights over younger brother Andy when he combined with Brazil's Bruno Soares to win the Australian Open men's doubles title early on Sunday.
The draw for the first Grand Slam of the season was made on Thursday and the top seeds could face some early tests of their credentials when play gets underway in Melbourne on Monday.
Former world number one Garbine Muguruza was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Aryna Sabalenka in the China Open second round on Tuesday while an ailing Jelena Ostapenko lost 6-0, 6-0 to Wang Qiang.
Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki face a 'humongous' match that could define their careers when they face off in Saturday's Australian Open final, says former champion Mats Wilander.
Claycourt master Rafael Nadal quickly adapted to his new surroundings at Roland Garros with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 demolition of German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the French Open on Monday.
Elena Vesnina denied Venus Williams another comeback win, while Kristina Mladenovic roared back from a set and a break down to beat Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
World No 1 Serena Williams comfortably beat 15-year-old CiCi Bellis.
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
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.
Eleven-times champion Rafael Nadal booked his place in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open semi-finals by beating German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-5 in a hard-fought match on Friday.
The 20-year-old, free of a shoulder injury that forced her out of qualifying for last week's Hobart tournament, won her first match at the Australian Open at her fourth attempt with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Germany's Annika Beck.
Simona Halep's brave Australian Open campaign but the exhausted Romanian hit a dead end in the final as she crumbled in a thriller against Caroline Wozniacki.
Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki will compete for high stakes in Saturday's Australian Open final, having each needed to save match points to prevent a premature exit at Melbourne Park.
So prior to their Melbourne Park rematch, former champion Sharapova said she was primed and ready for another drawn out dog-fight against the 14th seed.
The absence of Japan's Kei Nishikori from this year's Australian Open has turned the spotlight on Chung Hyeon as Asia waits for its first men's Grand Slam singles champion.
IMAGES of the all the action from Day 2 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Tuesday
India's tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued their stupendous run by clinching their 25th victory together to enter the final of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, on Friday.
Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro underlined his status as a dark horse for next week's Australian Open by hammering Dmitry Tursunov to reach the final of the Sydney International on Friday.
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.
Sloane Stephens will be defending her title at the U.S. Open but all eyes will be on Serena Williams over the coming two weeks as the six-times champion attempts to win her first Grand Slam title since becoming a mother.
Rafael Nadal gave a much improved performance to advance into the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open on Thursday, dispatching Spanish compatriot and crowd favourite David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3.
Images from Monday's action at the French Open.
It was back in 2003 that Serena Williams first stamped her name on Australian Open history, the then 21-year-old taking down sister Venus to bring home her first title on the blue courts of Melbourne Park.
Serena Williams battled a misbehaving serve and scorching heat but stayed cool under pressure in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Czech Barbora Strycova to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday.
It was a day of surprises at Flushing Meadows in New York as seeded players were knocked out one after the other on Friday.
amiliar names, however, are tipped to take off with the winners' trophies. The following is a list of talking points at the Australian Open:
Stanislas Wawrinka breezed into the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday and saw another seed removed from his path to the final when lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan turned his match against Tomas Berdych upside down.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal can take a step closer to a 50th career showdown when they play their fourth-round matches at the US Open on Sunday.
Venus Williams moved within two wins of a possible sisterly showdown with Serena in the semi-finals of the US Open by beating German 26th seed Laura Siegemund to reach the fourth round on Saturday.
'Maybe the last tournament changed something in people's minds but not in mine. I'm really enjoying every match but, still, I think I do have lot of things to improve'
Olympic champion and world number one Serena Williams tumbled out of the Rio de Janeiro singles competition in the third round on Tuesday after a shock defeat to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic will face Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, the player who denied him a medal in London, in the opening round of the Rio Olympics after the draw was made on Thursday.
Grand Slam finalists Garbine Muguruza and Roberta Vinci stormed into the last four of the Wuhan Open in China on Thursday while Venus Williams ended the giant-killing run of Briton Johanna Konta.
Britain's Andy Murray, bristling with confidence after ending a three-year wait for another Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, will seek to make history in Brazil by becoming the first man to win successive Olympic gold medals in men's singles tennis.
Twelfth seed Djokovic resumed two sets to one ahead after snatching a third-set tiebreak the previous night before Wimbledon's 11pm curfew left the match on a knife edge.
Images from Day 4 of the French Open, at Roland Garros, in Paris.
It was the Russian's first competitive match since she withdrew from the St Petersburg Open in January.
Serbian Djokovic, 31, needed elbow surgery in February to cure a problem that surfaced in 2017, but after some jarring defeats he returned to the kind of domination he achieved in 2015, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.
Serena Williams gave little away on Sunday as she assessed her chances of retaining her Wimbledon title -- and dismissed suggestions that she is under any pressure. The 34-year-old American has not struck a ball competitively since losing to Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the French Open final on June 4 - a defeat that frustrated her hopes of matching Steffi Graf's professional era record of 22 grand slam titles. Considering she also fell at the final hurdle in Australia against Angelique Kerber and went out of the U.S. Open semi-finals last year when two wins away from a calendar grand slam, Williams would be forgiven for feeling a little edgy.
2016 is at the halfway stage and the year has already seen some stunning sporting wins, underdogs emerging triumphant on the biggest stages of them all.
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