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.
IMAGES from matches on Day 9 at the French Open at Roland Garros
The seventh-seeded Bulgarian advanced to his eighth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Del Potro, who struggled with the intense heat in the closing stages of the one hour, 39 minute match.
'I'm very privileged to be in the second week of Wimbledon again. This is genuinely one of my favourite weeks of the year so to be prolonging my stay is a lot of fun but I'm looking forward to the challenge.'
Roger Federer gained a measure of revenge against Wimbledon nemesis Kevin Anderson, beating the South African 6-0, 6-4 at the Miami Open on Thursday to set up a mouthwatering semi-final against a player barely half his age.
Five things to watch out for at the French Open on Tuesday.
Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov crushed second seed Dominic Thiem and third seed Alexander Zverev respectively to set up an all-Russian semi-final at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Friday.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka advanced to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals on Thursday to set up their first meeting since the American's infamous row with an umpire overshadowed last year's US Open final.
The Serbian second seed's match against France's Adrian Mannarino was delayed because of the epic five-setter between Gilles Muller and Rafael Nadal.
Three-time US Open champion Djokovic, who comes into the tournament having won his fifth Wimbledon title, is followed in the seedings by 2017 winner Rafael Nadal.
Organisers are confident a rain-hit opening day will not hold up the tournament.
'I think when I first started, you could win a lot of easy matches, then you're in the quarter-finals, that's when it starts to get a little more tough. Now, like, there's no easy match. Everyone's playing great. Everyone's just doing a lot better'
Images from Day 9 at the French Open.
Breeze though the outfits that caught the maximum shutterbugs at the final Grand Slam of the year.
'I knew I was the underdog and I was just enjoying it'
Serena Williams, hoping to win a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title, will start her campaign against fellow American Kristie Ahn.
The Danish World No 3 ended 2017 with the biggest title of her career in Singapore and returned a day after thrashing Madison Brengle in her season opener to hit 21 winners against eight unforced errors in the 53-minute win over Martic.
Big-stage experience proved the deciding factor for Dominika Cibulkova on Wednesday as she marched into her second grand slam semi-final with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Simona Halep at the Australian Open.
Factbox on Japan's Naomi Osaka, who beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the US Open title on Saturday.
Awesome images from the world of Sport 2018.
Milos Raonic overcame third seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the third round at the Madrid Open on Tuesday and set up an all-Canadian clash with teenager Denis Shapovalov.
The unseeded Bencic, who also beat former world number ones Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic in Toronto, wore a look of disbelief after the 18-year-old's forehand winner whizzed past Williams to seal the match.
As the fans head toward Flushing Meadows, tennis stars gear up with ground-breaking styles to rule the courts.
World No 1 Serena Williams was handed the best possible draw for her WTA Finals title defence with the 33-year-old American grouped with two injury doubts and avoiding the in-form players.
Time is running out for Serena to reach the career milestone that has become one of the sport's longest running storylines.
Top seed Angelique Kerber was knocked out of the last-16 of Wimbledon by Garbine Muguruza on Monday, ensuring she will lose her world number one ranking.
Images from Day 1 of the French Open matches played at Roland Garros on Sunday
Red-hot Rafael Nadal faces Delbonis, says majors tally not a focus
Serena Williams creates ripples with her latest outfit.
World Number one Simona Halep and Japan's Naomi Osaka are among the players nominated for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Player of the Year award.
Swiatek's last defeat on clay came in the WTA 1000 event in Madrid against Australian Barty, who elected not to defend her 2019 French Open title last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic suffered a shock 6-7(4), 1-6 loss against Denisa Allertova of Czech Republic in the women's singles first round at the 2016 US Open on Tuesday. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner, started off well but failed to maintain her momentum. With the scored tied 6-6, the first set went into tie-break and the Serbian star failed to keep her nerves.
'This was the first time that I played points and that was too much for me today'
Unlike the United States and European countries, which are battling to contain the virus, Australia has not had a case of community transmission for 11 straight days and residents have regained most of their pre-COVID freedoms.
Images from the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
The older Serena Williams gets, the more dominant she becomes. At 33, an age when most players start to fade, her grip on women's tennis looks as secure as ever.
Images from Day 4 of the French Open, at Roland Garros, in Paris.
Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes she is now ready to matching Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams.
Fashion statements from Roland Garros...
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.
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