Osaka rolls into 1st major semifinal
NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka reached the first Grand Slam tournament semifinal berth of her career Wednesday, a successful follow-up to her first major quarterfinal.
It took the 20th-seeded Osaka only 57 minutes to defeat unseeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1. Osaka is the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Kimiko Date at Wimbledon in 1996.
Osaka had a very low-key, on-court response to blasting her way into the semifinals, believing that playing in her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal was more notable.
“It means a lot, but for me I feel like I was much more emotional for the quarters,” she said. “And then now I feel like it’s sort of like business again.
“For me, quarters was sort of my mental goal, like every time I played a Grand Slam. And then after I went into the quarters, I want to keep going, so I feel like I have to be focused again, keep trying really hard.”
Osaka, 20, dominated with her serve, losing only three points on serve through to 6-1, 4-0. Overall, she surrendered seven points in seven serving games.
“I fought for every point, and that’s something I struggled with in the past,” she said of the match. “So that shows I’ve matured.”
In the final game she served — the sixth game of the second set — she fell behind 0-40 and saved four break points to finish the match without surrendering her serve.
“I was freaking out inside,” Osaka told the crowd in an on-court interview after the match. “Just like my entire body was shaking, so I was really glad I was able to play well today. “
Osaka also told the crowd how she believes her game has evolved this season. She started the year ranked No. 68 and has climbed to No. 19, and she won her first career title at the upper-echelon Indian Wells tournament in March.
Since the beginning of the year she’s been coached by Aleksandar (Sascha) Bajin, who previously was a hitting partner of Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.
“I feel like since I was working with him, and I tend to be a bit negative on myself, I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit more optimistic,” she said of Bajin. “He tries to make every day really fun and exciting. For someone like me that sort of thinks sometimes things are boring, I think that’s good for me.”
Though Bajin describes Osaka as quiet and someone who has “preserved that innocence somehow,” he also acknowledges she thrives on being the entertainer.
“I believe that Naomi is one of those individuals who really craves the big stage, so that definitely helps her competing out there and helps my part to,” he said.
The quarterfinal victory was not even Osaka’s best match showing of her five US Open matches this year. She has dropped but one set, in the fourth round to 26th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, and she recorded an impressive 6-0, 6-0 victory against Sabalenka’s countrywoman, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, in the third round.
Osaka holds dual Japan-U.S. citizenship. She was born in Osaka, Japan, to a Japanese mother and Haitian-born father.
Her father attended college in New York City before moving to Japan for 13 years.
When she was 3, Osaka’s family moved to New York, where they lived with Haitian relatives, and eventually settled in Florida, where she currently lives in Fort Lauderdale and trains at the Chris Evert Academy in Boca Raton.
Her home locale probably accounts for why Osaka didn’t find another day of heat and humidity all that daunting.
“I actually don’t think it’s that hot,” she said. “I think it’s because I’m used to the Florida heat. I like sweating.”