Sharapova reduced 22-year-old Harriet Dart to tears with a devastating 6-0 6-0 win over the Briton in the first round and on Saturday 18-year-old Dayana Yastremska looked similarly distraught after a 6-2 6-1 defeat to Williams in the third round in Melbourne.
A mother to one-year-old daughter Alexis Olympia, Williams also played mom to the Ukrainian when they approached one another to shake hands after the 67-minute contest on Rod Laver Arena.
The 37-year-old told a teary Yastremska: "You're amazing. You're so young. You're gonna make me cry" before they exchanged a hug.
Williams said later in her post-match press conference seeing her opponent in distress "broke my heart" and she recalled being in Yastremska's position when losing to older sister Venus in the 2000 Wimbledon semifinals.
"I was walking to the net, I started bawling," said Williams. "I couldn't help it. Young girls, young women, just want to go out there and do their best and want to win."
Yastremska used to mimic the 23-time grand slam winner's strokes while watching her play and on the eve of the season's first major, even got a chance to meet the legendary American.
She isn't the only challenger Williams has needed to console this fortnight: Tatjana Maria, Williams' neighbor in south Florida, wept after a 6-0 6-2 defeat on Tuesday.
Only nine games dropped
Williams has dropped a mere nine games through three rounds -- her lowest tally at a major since the 2013 US Open, which she won -- but will likely encounter greater resistance the rest of the way.
Nineteen years after that Wimbledon duel, Venus -- who Serena has repeatedly said is her toughest opponent -- will set up the 31st meeting between the siblings if she upsets world No. 1 Simona Halep.
Either way it is a blockbuster.
"I honestly would love to face the world No. 1," Williams said. "At the same time I would love for Venus to win. I think either way, regardless, I'll be ready for either opponent.
"Yeah, it will be great. I haven't played the world No. 1 since I've been back, I don't think," Serena, correctly, added. "So, yeah, it will be good."
Further afield, potentially, are players who have downed Williams at grand slams, Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka.
An Osaka-Williams tussle would bring much hype given their eventful US Open final but the Japanese was almost upset earlier Saturday by the crafty 28th-seed Hsieh Su-Wei.
Changing pace and direction, using drop shots and with wonderful disguise on her ground strokes, Hsieh upset Halep and Muguruza in grand slams last year.
When she led by a set and 4-1, and even 4-2, 40-0 on serve, another huge scalp was on the way. Osaka had earlier shown her frustration by, unusually, throwing her racket to the ground to earn a warning and took a tumble on court trying to counter Hsieh's unpredictable shots.
Osaka rallied, however, for a 5-7 6-4 6-1 win.
'Happy with how I fought'
"I'm happy with how I fought," she told reporters. "For me that's like, one of the biggest things I always thought I could improve, because it sort of seems like before I would accept defeat in a way, and then this time I just wanted to learn from the last match that I played in Brisbane," she added, referring to a straight-set loss to Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Men's favorite Novak Djokovic, bidding for a record seventh Australian Open crown, lost his first set of the tournament but recovered to beat 'Next Gen' Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-0. That despite being agitated when the lights were turned on in the early evening and receiving a time violation warning in the third set.
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