Osaka and Nishikori blaze trail to US Open quarter-finals
NEW YORK: Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori blazed a trail into the US Open quarter-finals on Monday putting a Japanese man and woman in the last eight together at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
The breakthrough also marked the first time that a Japanese man and woman made the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam since Kimiko Date and Shuzo Matsuoka at the 1995 Wimbledon.
On a sun-baked Louis Armstrong Stadium court, Nishikori began an historic afternoon by outclassing Philipp Kohlschreiber 6- 3 6-2 75 before handing the stage over to Osaka, who tamed Aryna Sabalenka 6- 3 2- 6 6- 4, then walked off unaware of what had been accomplished.
“No,” smi led Osaka when informed of the US Open first. “I’m glad I was able to be a part of something like that today. I always thought if I can keep up with him ( Nishikori), that would be really cool.”
Osaka collected her first career win at Indian Wells earlier this year and came into Monday’s fourth round US Open clash having won 22 consecutive games.
Next up for Osaka is Ukraine’s 36th-ranked Lesia Tsurenko.
While Nishikori has never won a Grand Slam he has been to a final, losing the 2014 US Open to Marin Cilic. “This year is easy for me, because I don’t expect any big result. I try to play one match at a time. This week it’s been great.” — Reuters