Naomi Osaka will face last year’s runner-up Madison Keys in the US Open semi-finals after both sealed straight-set wins in their respective quarter-finals.
Osaka trounced Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-1 to become the first Japanese woman since Kimiko Date at Wimbledon in 1996 to advance to the last four of a grand slam.
Hours later Keys, beaten by Sloane Stephens in the final 12 months ago, overwhelmed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4 6-3.
Keys faced only two break points, one while serving for the victory in the final game.
There were no breaks until 5-4 in the opening set, when Keys – the highest seed remaining in the event at No.14 – piled pressure on the Spaniard’s serve.
Suarez Navarro saved one set point but could do nothing about a crunching forehand winner from Keys on the second.
One break in the second was enough as well, with Suarez Navarro having to accept a seventh slam quarter-final loss.
The 20th-seeded Osaka continued what’s been a largely dominant run through the draw by winning in just 57 minutes, the third time in her five matches she wrapped the result in less than an hour.
Osaka moved from Japan to New York at age three, and her deepest major run is coming at the same tournament she first visited as a child.
“Well, it definitely means a lot for me, and I always thought if I were to win a grand slam, the first one I’d want to win is the US Open, because I have grown up here and my grandparents can come and watch,” she said.
“I think it would be really cool.”
The 20-year-old raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set and then 4-0 in the second against the shaky Tsurenko.
Osaka won 59 points to just 28 for the unseeded Ukrainian, who said she was sick on Wednesday, waking up with a sore throat and not breathing well.
“Unfortunately during this tournament I had many issues with my health, and today was not my day obviously. I was not feeling well,” Tsurenko, who finished with more unforced errors than points – 31 to 28 – in her first major quarter-final, said.