The winners of the season's first three grand slams Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal put on a masterclass at the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday, strolling into the third round with straight sets wins.
Seven-time champion Serena Williams endured an unlikely scrap in her Wimbledon opener and will look to shake off more rust in the second round on Thursday when she faces another qualifier in 18-year-old Kaja Juvan.
A dominant Rafael Nadal arrived at one career milestone on Thursday but the speed of the Spaniard's rampage through the early rounds of the French Open suggests his eyes are fixed firmly on another more significant one.
Former world number one Roger Federer looked like his old self when he beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at the Paris Masters on Friday to set up a semi-final clash with Novak Djokovic. Top seed Rafa Nadal destroyed local favourite Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-1 as he stepped up his bid for a record sixth Masters Series crown in the same season.
Images from the matches played on Day eight of the 2018 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday
Images from Wednesday's matches at Roland Garros
The tension mounted and temperatures soared at the U.S. Open as top seed Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray set up a sensational quarter-final, and Serena Williams made a 2014 grand slam breakthrough.
It is the first time the final match of the season will decide who is ranked number one.
Images from Day 3 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday.
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.
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka won a battle of former girls' champions at the Australian Open by easing past Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round at Melbourne Park.
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.
A summary of Tuesday's action at the US Open.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had made it near impossible for their peers to live, and thrive, amongst them. But the coming generation, which hasn't been as scarred by defeat at the hands of the Big 3, may make tennis unpredictable again.
Novak Djokovic handed Kei Nishikori a brutal lesson in hardcourt tennis as the Serb began his bid for a record fourth successive title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Sunday.
Images from Day 3 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday
Images from Day 4 of the US Open in New York on Thursday.
Images from Day 6 of the French Open in Paris on Friday.
Images from the matches played on Day 8 at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday
Images from the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
Nick Kyrgios has invigorated the Championship and men's tennis generally with firecracker personality
Beaten in just over two hours, Nadal won barely a third of the match's points, was broken five times and conjured only a single break point in the third set, which the Serb saved.
A look at the records of Spain's Rafael Nadal and Serbia's Novak Djokovic before their title clash at the Australian Open on Sunday (prefix number denotes seeding):
Former World No 1 Ana Ivanovic was upset 7-5, 6-4 by 42nd-ranked Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round of the US Open on Thursday.
The Serb's dominance in 2016, says Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com, is way beyond numbers. It's about how he forced his opponents into submission.
IMAGES from Day 10 of the US Open matches played in New York on Wednesday
IMAGES from the matches played on Day 4 of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Thursday
Serena Williams moved another step closer to a record-tying 24th career Grand Slam title with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Czech Karolina Muchova on Friday to reach the last 16 at the US Open.
It's got something to do with Hardik Pandya.
The Australian brought his extraordinary brand of improvised tennis theatre to the world's greatest tennis stage
PHOTOS from day four of the Wimbledon championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Thursday.
IMAGES from the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Dominic Thiem fell in straight sets to Rafael Nadal in the 2018 French Open final but took the 12-time Roland Garros champion to four sets last June. On Sunday, the Austrian appeared to be heading towards a four-set victory before Djokovic mounted a spectacular comeback to deny him again.
'They're incredible players, but they're not superheroes. The new generation has to start believing in themselves.'
Photos from the tennis matches played at Indian Wells on Tuesday
Tournament favourite Novak Djokovic beat Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 on Tuesday, kicking off his quest for a first ever Paris trophy to add to his eight other Grand Slams.
IMAGES from the matches played at the PNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday
Novak Djokovic barely got out of first gear but had more than enough in the tank to beat Briton Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday.
The US Open women's final between Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez attracted a bigger audience on ESPN than the men's clash featuring calendar year Grand Slam-chasing Novak Djokovic and Russia's Daniil Medvedev.
Rafael Nadal will return to the top of the men's world rankings after Tomas Berdych retired with a back injury during their China Open semi-final.
