The French Open champion's grounded personality meant she was always going to present a clear contrast to the main Australian men's title hopefuls of recent years but there has been no shortage of compatriots ready to kick up a fuss on her behalf.
Eugenie Bouchard arrives in Eastbourne, her final grass-court warm-up, having lost nine of her last 10 matches.
Aryna Sabalenka moved one step closer to defending her Wuhan Open crown after dispatching world number one Ash Barty in straight sets with a 7-5 6-4 victory in the semi-final on Friday
Australia's Alex de Minaur fought back from a set down to beat former world number one Andy Murray
Coco Vandeweghe thrives on team play and said on Wednesday she hopes to cap a breakthrough season by leading the United States to victory over Belarus in this weekend's Fed Cup final.
Exodus of big guns opens up bottom half of men's draw
The courts are not the same as they used to be in the past are not in good condition.
Williams had little trouble against the 31-year-old German although the gusty breezes at Auckland Tennis Centre played havoc with her ball toss, especially when she was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova avenged her US Open loss to Anastasija Sevastova with a 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(7) victory over the Latvian in the China Open first round on Saturday.
World number one Naomi Osaka was beaten in her opening match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, losing to France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-3 on her return to competitive action after winning last month's Australian Open.
The Scot lost 6-4, 6-4 to Richard Gasquet in his first singles match since January before saying he had turned down a wild card into the men's draw at the year's final Grand Slam.
"I think she will win a Grand Slam. Which one and when I don't know, but definitely clay is a good surface for her."
Roberta Vinci beat her opponent and the rain to storm into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Monday just before a thunderstorm forced play to be suspended.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
World number 30 Berrettini saved five points in the marathon second set tiebreak and held on to win it 13-11 for his third ATP crown in last 11 months.
Former US Open champion Del Potro fired down 11 aces and did not face a break point during the one hour, 33 minutes match.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza received a confidence booster ahead of the US Open Grand Slam tournament beginning, on Monday, with a doubles title victory at the Connecticut Open with Monica Niculescu of Romania, in New Haven, USA.
IMAGES from matches played on Day 4 of the French Open at Roland Garros on Wednesday
Belarusian ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka held off a spirited challenge from American Alison Riske to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and successfully defend her Wuhan Open title on Saturday.
India's Leander Paes and his German partner Alexander Zverev went down to the Spanish duo of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in a men's doubles first round match to bow out of the Cincinnati Open.
Andy Murray is more afraid of losing his wedding ring than a tennis match these days but that did not stop him from storming to a 10th successive win on clay at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.
The 23-times Grand Slam champion looked a completely different player from the person who smashed her way into the semi-finals of the doubles with Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday but managed to do just enough to beat the 86th-ranked McHale.
Nadal, playing his first match since losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semi-finals, fell behind 5-2 in the tiebreak before roaring back to prevail in his first career meeting with world number 53 Evans.
Images from Sunday's action at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Earlier on Wednesday, Czech Karolina Pliskova was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a viral illness.
Serena Williams returned to Indian Wells on Friday after a 14-year boycott due to racist abuse she suffered in the 2001 final and got her bid for a third BNP Paribas Open title off to a winning, though somewhat error-prone, start.
American eighth seed Madison Keys claimed a dramatic 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3) comeback win over a tearful Naomi Osaka on Friday to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
Images from the second day at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Coco Gauff claimed the biggest win of her young career on Friday with a stunning upset of defending champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open to reach the fourth round. Caroline Wozniacki and Serena Williams also lost their respective matches earlier in the day. Images from Day 5 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
The veteran American set up a showdown with Romanian former world number one Simona Halep in Saturday's final.
Images from Day 3 of the 2020 US Open in New York, on Wednesday.
Roger Federer suffered a shock 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) defeat to Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday that will cost the Swiss his world number one ranking and leaves the Miami men's tournament wide open.
Eugenie Bouchard's mid-season nosedive continued on Tuesday as the Canadian was swept aside 6-3 6-4 by Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic despite having home advantage and the backing of an excited crowd in a first round clash at the Rogers Cup.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram overcame Rajiv Ouseph of England to enter the men's singles final of the $50,000 Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix, in Almere, The Netherlands.
Garbine Muguruza's preparations for next week's Australian Open were thrown into disarray when the world number three pulled out of the Sydney International with a thigh injury on Wednesday.
PHOTOS from the Wimbledon Championships matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Saturday
Bhambri, ranked 200th, recovered from a set down and registered what turned to be an emphatic 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Pella in a match that lasted for two hours and 10 minutes.
World number one Simona Halep swatted aside American Nicole Gibbs while Maria Sharapova was flawless in her straight sets victory over Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu in the opening round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
Federer, who skipped the entire clay court season after winning the Australian Open and claiming titles at Indian Wells and Miami this year, will next play defending champion Florian Mayer who beat Frenchman Lucas Pouille in three sets.
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