Naomi Osaka earned a spot in her first Grand Slam semifinal, defeating Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday in the US Open quarterfinals. She is the first Japanese woman to do so in 22 years. The No. 20 seeded Osaka won in just 57 minutes, the third time in her five matches she didn’t even have to play an hour. Osaka will face either 14th-seeded Madison Keys or No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro in the first major semifinal appearance for a Japanese woman since Kimiko Date reached the final four at Wimbledon in 1996. Osaka, 20, said she was nervous and “freaking out inside” — though she seems to remain cool. “Just, like, my entire body was shaking, so I’m really glad I was able to play well today,” she said. Osaka won 59 points to just 28 for the unseeded Ukrainian Tsurenko, who had knocked off No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.
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