US Open 2018: Madison Keys overpowers Carla Suarez Navarro to book semi-final clash against Naomi Osaka

New York: Madison Keys is into her third semi-final in the past five Grand Slam tournaments, including two in a row at the US Open. She’s still in search of major title No 1. [caption id=“attachment_5124661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Madison Keys hits a return to Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro during their quarter-final. AFP[/caption] The 14th-seeded American used her big-strike game built on serves and forehands to overpower No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday night. Keys won all 10 of her service games, saving the only two break points she faced. One came in the last game as she served for the victory, but she erased it with a forehand winner, part of a 22-10 edge in that category. It all took less than 1 1/2 hours against Suarez Navarro, who eliminated five-time Major champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets in her previous match but has never made it to the semi-finals at a Major. Keys was the runner-up in New York a year ago, beaten by Sloane Stephens in an all-American final. Keys also lost to Stephens in the French Open semi-finals this June. This time, Keys will play No 20 Naomi Osaka on Thursday night for a chance to reach the final again. The other women’s semi-final is 23-time Major champion Serena Williams against No 19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Osaka was an easy winner in her quarter-final, eliminating unseeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in all of 57 minutes. For Osaka, who is 20, this is her first trip past the fourth round at a Major. She purported to be “freaking out inside,” even if it certainly never showed. Tsurenko had dealt with heat issues in the fourth round, when her opponent accused her of acting, and said after her lopsided loss to Osaka that she was dealing with a sore throat and problems breathing. “Today was not my day, obviously,” Tsurenko said. It was Osaka’s, though. She is strong at the baseline and has learned to control her strokes with the coaching help of Sascha Bajin, who used to be Williams’ hitting partner. “I believe that they kind of want to play the same, you know. They are very powerful. Big serves. Big hitters, both of them,” Bajin said. “But even on court, Serena is very aggressive, you know, and Naomi — I have to push her to get a fist pump out of her.”