Madison Keys has reached the semi-finals of the US Open as last year. Keys defeated Carla Suarez Navarro in two sets and will face Naomi Osaka on Thursday.
Madison Keys once again lived up to her reputation: 32 unforced mistakes in the US-American’s record, but also a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro. Keys did not have to give up a single serve – and can already draw on the experience of another Grand Slam semi-final this season: In Paris, the 23-year-old made it into the semi-finals, losing to compatriot and girlfriend Sloane Stephens.
In Paris, Keys met her last opponent for Thursday in New York City: Naomi Osaka. Keys prevailed in Roland Garros in two sets and also won the two previous games. This was also the case at the US Open in 2016, when the American was still 1:5 behind in the third set.
Naomi Osaka is the first Japanese woman in 22 years to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open. The number 20 on the seed list, who grew up in Long Island just outside New York, won 6:1, 6:1 against Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine), who was weakened by a virus.
Unlike after their victory in the round of sixteen, Osaka’s cheers were frugal. “The day before yesterday I cried a little, people made fun of me. That’s why I just went online today. But I was freaked out inside,” said the 20-year-old, who won her first and so far only WTA tournament in Indian Wells in March.
The second semi-final in Flushing Meadows will be played by 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams (USA/No. 17) and Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia/No. 19). Both had already won their quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Osaka, daughter of a Japanese and a New Yorker with roots in Haiti, left the unseeded Tsurenko (29) no chance in only 58 minutes. Kimiko Date was the last Japanese woman to play a Grand Slam semi-final in Wimbledon in 1996 – two years before Osaka was born in the city of the same name on the island of Honshu. She doesn’t think much about the high expectations in her home country. “I’m just happy that so many people are supporting me,” Osaka said.
Osaka copes well with the midsummer conditions that have plagued many tennis professionals in New York. “I don’t think it’s so hot,” she said after the victory over Tsurenko: “I’m used to the heat in Florida, I even enjoyed it today. I like to sweat.”
Against Madison Keys something different can be expected at least in this respect: On the one hand, the semi-final will take place in the night session, on the other hand, there will be a significant cooling off on Thursday.