Defending champion Serena Williams continued her march towards a sixth Wimbledon title with a straightforward 6-3, 6-2 second-round win over French teenager Caroline Garcia on Thursday.
The imposter who did turn up got dragged into a two hour 11 minute tussle in which she failed to convert 11 of the 12 break points that fell her way.
The first teenager to play in a US Open final since Serena in 2001 there was symmetry to the moment as Gauff rallied to beat the second seeded Belarusian 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and end a six-year barren stretch for American tennis fans, who were finally able to celebrate a homegrown champion.
Serena Williams overcame a gritty challenge from unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, winning 7-6(7), 6-4, to reach the French Open final, in Paris, on Friday. She will meet Garbine Muguruza, who reached her second Grand Slam final when she beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 in the first semi-final at Roland Garros.
But matches between Venus and Serena are captivating, highly charged yet often disappointing affairs.
"I'd like to thank all of the fans who have been so supportive. I'll be back... better than ever," said the world number three.
Mauresmo overcame Paola Suarez while Serena thrashed Jennifer Capriati in the women's quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
2004 champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium beat Hana Sromova 7-6, 6-1 to confirm her position as tournament favourite.
Venus and Serena Williams kept up their semi-final date with commanding victories over Vera Zvonareva and Anastasia Rodionova respectively at the WTA Tier II Bangalore Open on Friday. Venus won 6-4, 6-3, while Serena was through at 6-1, 6-4.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka will join Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in playing a pre-Australian Open warm-up exhibition
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France showcased its cultural diversity, spirit of revolution, impeccable craftsmanship, and architectural heritage in a riveting opening ceremony for the 33rd Olympic Games.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were named men's and women's world champions for 2015 by the International Tennis Federation.
The powerful Serena Williams may be the 'best player' but World No 2 Victoria Azarenka insists that she is steadily closing the gap.
Images from Day 6 at the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club in London, on Saturday.
Serena Williams' decision to end a 14-year boycott of the BNP Paribas Open has been warmly welcomed by her peers with good friend and rival Caroline Wozniacki saying it was "great for tennis".
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Serena Williams, brimming with confidence and self-belief with every match she plays, stormed into the semi-finals of the US Open on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-3 demolition of Ana Ivanovic.
The fifth-seeded Ukrainian reached her second straight Grand Slam semi-final after also making the last four at Wimbledon in July.
Serena's coach said it had been a winding road following the birth of her daughter in 2017 to the kind of peak performance that brought her US Open success in the past.
Images from Day 2 of the 2020 US Open in New York
Serena Williams, coming off a double Olympic gold medal-winning performance in London, said she was feeling the pace of a hectic schedule after a lethargic display in her 6-3, 6-0 win over Urszula Radwanska on Thursday.
The 23-year-old studied at Harvard before turning professional on the tennis tour and Serena thinks he has got it all.
World number two Serena Williams raced into the quarter-finals of the Toronto Cup on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko. Williams needed only 64 minutes on a blustery centre court to dispose of the world number 33 and restore a bit of family honour after the Ukrainian's sister Kateryna had knocked out older sibling Venus in the second round.
After four days of play, the French Open was left without a Williams sister in the draw on Wednesday when former runner-up Venus joined 2002 champion Serena in making an early exit.
Challengers to Serena Williams' throne have proved as fickle as a Paris spring and as the year's second grand slam starts the veteran American is again seemingly in a league of her own. The 34-year-old's charge to overhaul Margaret Court's record 24 grand slam singles titles may have stalled since she chalked up major number 21 at last year's Wimbledon. But after fine-tuning her claycourt game by winning last week's Italian Open she will begin the defence of her French Open title as the strong favourite. With twice French Open champion Maria Sharapova suspended pending the findings of an anti-doping hearing after she tested positive for Meldonium in Australia this year, the list of players capable of toppling a fully firing Williams is short.
Serena Williams has set a single-season prize money record on the women's tour by earning $6,545,586 in 2009, according to the Women's Tennis Association.
Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard swatted aside an out-of-sorts Serena Williams 6-2, 6-1 at the Hopman Cup in Perth on Tuesday.
Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza claimed her maiden Grand Slam title when she beat World No 1 and defending champion Serena Williams 7-5, 6-4 in the French Open final on Saturday.
The defending Wimbledon champion avenged her French Open defeat with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The WTA Bangalore Open event will take place in February.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
World No 1 Serena Williams's 27-match unbeaten run ended with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat by Petra Kvitova in the Madrid Open.
She beat fellow-American Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the final.
Sharapova beat Lindsay Davenport while the defending champion beat Amelie Mauresmo in the women's singles semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Victory in Melbourne would be sure to put a smile on her face, though. It would give her the oft-mentioned 'Serena Slam'.
The top seed celebrated her 23rd birthday with a come-from-behind win over Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.
Serena Williams was bundled out of the Australian Open on Monday, losing her fourth-round match to Russian world number 56 Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3 on a scorching day at Rod Laver Arena.
