Less than a month after her run to the Wimbledon final, where she lost to Spain's Garbine Muguruza, 37-year-old Williams again had to turn back time against a young challenger.
Playing alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, the eight-time doubles Grand Slam champion Leander Paes showed his class during a clinical victory over defending champion and second seed Sharan, who was playing alongside New Zealand's Artem Sitak.
Teenager Taylor Fritz earned the chance to face his hero Roger Federer after the American defeated an unranked French qualifier on Tuesday to reach the second round in Stuttgart. Federer will be playing his first match in nearly a month after recovering from back pain and skipping the French Open, as he ramps up his preparations for Wimbledon. Number 65 Fritz has had time on court with the Swiss legend -- a Wimbledon training session a year ago - but booked his place into the match of his life with a 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 win over Fabrice Martin on the grass at the Weissenhof Club. Fritz, 18, said he will not worry with nerves when he faces one of the best players on the planet. "I have nothing to lose, there is no pressure on me, I don't think there will be any nerves." The teenager said he had watched and admired Federer as a boy aged 11.
From a Sri Lanka cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara's final Test innings, Virender Sehwag's felicitation ceremony, FC Barcelona's Luis Suarez celebrating the La Liga title with his family, these and many more scintillating moments are frozen in time in this beautiful photo-feature.
World No 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have been named top seeds for the first major of the season, Australian Open, which will commences on January 16.
Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic made a strong return to competition on Friday by beating Viktor Troicki 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round of the Miami Open.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are top seeds at the major starting Monday
Djokovic, who is aiming for a fifth Wimbledon title and his 16th Grand Slam crown, plans to play only one or two exhibition matches in the build-up to the grasscourt major.
Reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named top seeds for the Australian Open starting on Monday.
A long season took its toll on Roger Federer on Thursday as the Swiss was knocked out of the Paris Masters following a 7-6(3) 3-6 7-6(5) third-round defeat by big serving John Isner.
The sweet spot of Andy Murray's racket was put through its paces as he signed of his first week at Wimbledon by stylishly dispatching Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 to move into the last 16 on Friday.
Former US Open champion Del Potro fired down 11 aces and did not face a break point during the one hour, 33 minutes match.
All the results from the matches played in the BNP Paribas Paris Masters on Tuesday
Images from Day 2 of the French Open in Paris on Monday.
Novak Djokovic spurred Serbia to a 3-0 win over neighbours Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup on Saturday and they will be joined in the quarter-finals by an equally rampant France.
Raucous home support for holders Argentina did not make up for the absence of Juan Martin del Potro and Federico Delbonis on Friday as they fell 2-0 behind to Italy in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Vandeweghe, who had been suffering from flu, told reporters that Babos had been "getting in my face", prompting her to shout at her and fling her racket to the ground.
The Czech Republic retained their Davis Cup title after Radek Stepanek ruthlessly exploited the inexperience of Dusan Lajovic in the decisive rubber to seal a 3-2 final victory over Novak Djokovic's Serbia on Sunday.
Defending champion Serena Williams is the top seed in the women's draw. The American will be looking to equal Steffi Graf's Open era record by sealing a 22nd Grand Slam triumph.
Images from the second day's play of the 2016 French Open at the Roland Garros
Roared on by 17,000 partisan fans Novak Djokovic fired Serbia ahead in the Davis Cup final on Friday but Tomas Berdych hit back for the Czech Republic to leave the tie delicately poised going into the weekend.
The Frenchman, seeded five, had no answer to left-hander Muller's swinging serve as he bowed out 6-4, 6-4.
Federer said the rate of dropouts would fall if the slams switched to best-of-three-sets rather than best-of-five as it would mean matches were more like "a sprint to the finish line" rather than being "a marathon" but the people he really felt sorry for on Tuesday were the fans.
US Open champions Marin Cilic and Serena Williams kicked off their China Open campaigns with straight sets victories against battling underdogs on Monday, but Rafael Nadal suffered defeat in a rare doubles outing on his return from injury.
Jelena Ostapenko became only the sixth female Grand Slam champion to lose in the opening round of their title defence on Sunday when she lost to Kateryna Kozlova at the French Open.
Photos of Day 5 of the Australian Open being played in Melbourne
Third seed Rafael Nadal battled through mid-match cramps for more than an hour before he lurched into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 victory over American qualifier Tim Smyzcek.
A round-up of results from Davis Cup matches played on Saturday and Sunday
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea entered the Sydney International final after a straight sets win over Thomaz Bellucci and Leonardo Mayer, on Friday.
Nick Kyrgios clinched his maiden tour title on home soil in a big confidence boost ahead of the Australian Open, beating Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-2 in the Brisbane International final.
A ruthless Sorana Cirstea took full advantage of Karolina Pliskova's patchy form at the China Open on Thursday, reaching the quarter-finals as she consigned the recently dethroned world number one to a 6-1, 7-5 defeat.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Thursday.
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
Images from the Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
IMAGES of the all the action from Day 1 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Monday
'Djokovic is playing some of the best tennis in the history of the game.'
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