Kei Nishikori defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber who hails from Germany in multiple sets to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
It is a good year for Japan as Naomi Osaka also reached the last eight of the women’s draw after beating Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in three sets at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
It is the second time Japan has had players in the quarterfinals of both the men’s and women’s singles. Japan’s last victory was in 1995 with Shuzo Matsuoka and Kimiko Date both reached the last eight of the men’s and women’s draws.
Nishikori, the 21st seed, surged past Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. It took him 2 hours and 16 minutes but said that the scorching heat was making it difficult.
Osaka, the 20th seed, beat fast-rising Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in slightly over 2 hours to make the quarterfinals for the first time. She will face Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine.
In her previous two competitions, Osaka was knocked out at the U.S. Open in heart-breaking three-setters. The first of which was to Madison Keys in 2016, when she led 5-1 in the third set, and then to Kaia Kanepi the previous summer.
Osaka’s mother is Japanese and her father Haitian, said that she would not have forgiven herself if she had suffered defeat this time.
Osaka says that there are people calling it bad memory. Whenever she plays a Grand Slam, people ask her if she’s going to go farther than the third round. Then, in Australia, she achieved the fourth round and was asked if she had plans to keep going or just stop at 4.
She has always wanted to play in the U.S. open since she was a child and has plans to go farther than a 4 th round and make her family and country proud.
Reference: Tennis: Nishikori reaches U.S. Open q’finals, Osaka also advances
