Williams's last Grand Slam victory came 18 months ago at Wimbledon, and her form and fitness since returning to the tour after an eight-month layoff have been inconsistent.
Dinara Safina made a scrappy start to her Beijing duel with Serena Williams for the world number one spot by beating Italian Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the $6.6 million China Open on Sunday.
The veteran American set up a showdown with Romanian former world number one Simona Halep in Saturday's final.
"I'm drama, and I don't want to be drama," Williams said after reaching the fourth round with a ill-tempered 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
World No 1 Serena Williams overcame a wobbly start to open the defence of her Sony Open crown with a spirited 7-6(9-7), 6-2 win over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova on Thursday.
With a heavy rain expected to hit Flushing Meadows later in the day, Serb Jankovic relied on her trademark dogged retrieving to beat Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4 before the muscular Williams swept away Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles semi-finals at the US Open.
World No 1 Serena Williams suffered one of the heaviest defeats of her long and illustrious career as she was humbled 6-0, 6-2 by Romanian Simona Halep at the WTA Finals on Wednesday.
Australia's Samantha Stosur employed a huge serve, hard forehand and deft backhand slice to upset Wimbledon champion Serena Williams 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic on Friday.
World No. 1 Serena Williams has been top-seeded for the U.S. Open where she will be seeking to win the women's singles title for a third consecutive year, the United States Tennis Association announced on Wednesday.
Five times Cincinnati winner Roger Federer blunted Andy Murray's attempt at a comeback, while women's World No 1 Serena Williams roared to victory as they moved into the semi-finals at the Western & Southern Open on Friday.
The glittering evening attracted royalty as well as movie stars, entertainers and a worldwide television audience estimated at 320 million.
Russian Sharapova pulled out because of a hamstring injury while Serena is still down with flu.
Serena Williams' bid for the Italian Open was squashed in her first match on Tuesday when the American second seed lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to Swiss Patty Schnyder. French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 and seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia had a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.
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.
Williams, dubbed the Australian Open favourite by Bouchard shortly after the match, is vying for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title
World number one Caroline Wozniacki might have been better off asking Serena Williams about how to win the biggest tournaments instead of seeking guidance about relationships.
Serena Williams battered Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Tuesday, seizing on moments of weakness from the Russian to ram home her advantage.
Women's No 1 Serena Williams remained on track for her 60th career title as she powered past Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-3 while Rafael Nadal launched the defence of his Madrid Open title.
Serena Williams, who has dropped to 172nd in the world after being sidelined for almost a year with injury and illness, has opted to use an injury-protected ranking to gain entry into the US Open, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) said on Wednesday.
Halep finds groove to reach Prague semi-finals.
Jasmine Paolini's exit means only one of the top five women's seeds -- world number one Aryna Sabalenka -- will be in the third round. It is only the second time that this has happened in the professional era after Wimbledon 2018.
The former world No.1 told organisers of the Perth event that she wants to concentrate on defending her title at the Australian Open.
World number one Serena Williams raced into the quarter-finals of the Paris Open with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem on Thursday. The American top seed, who won the tournament in 1999 and 2003, will face France's Emilie Loit for a semi-final spot on Friday.
Venus and Serena Williams won the 2009 Australian Open women's doubles title, beating Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-3 in the final in Melbourne on Friday. The tenth-seeded American sisters captured their eighth Grand Slam doubles title in the process, having also won the Australian Open in 2001 and 2003.
Petra Kvitova is not the type to talk herself up even if she does arrive at Wimbledon as the defending champion.
Victory in Melbourne would be sure to put a smile on her face, though. It would give her the oft-mentioned 'Serena Slam'.
The thought of playing a long match in the extreme Melbourne heat resulted in a sleepless night for Serena Williams, but the World No 1 need not have worried as she strode swiftly into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday.
The top seed celebrated her 23rd birthday with a come-from-behind win over Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.
World number two Serena Williams retired from her first-round match against Francesca Schiavone at the Madrid Open Monday with a knee injury after losing the first set to the Italian.
Serena Williams returned to the top of the WTA world rankings on Monday and immediately shared the news with her unborn baby.
Venus and Serena Williams enter the women's Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday with even their next opponents conceding they are strong favourites for another final appearance. Defending champion Venus faces Tamarine Tanasurgan and the unseeded Thai, who defeated second seed Jelena Jankovic to reach her first grand slam quarter-final, is not brimming with confidence.
Serena Williams summoned all her fighting qualities to beat Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 at the Australian Open on Wednesday after sister Venus's exit. Li Na earlier stunned Venus to become just the second Chinese to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam.
Serena Williams takes centre stage on Centre Court when she lines up opposite 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin.
Novak Djokovic has declined to disclose his vaccination status despite everyone at Melbourne Park needing to be inoculated against COVID-19.
Serena Williams enters the Australian Open as a strong favourite to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup but is all too aware that a sixth Melbourne Park title has now eluded her for five years.
World number one Serena Williams survived a scare to beat China's Li Na 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Wednesday and reach the Sony Ericsson Open semi-finals -- where she will meet her sister Venus.
