Naomi Osaka of Japan celebrates her victory over Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.(Photo: Danielle Parhizkaran, USA TODAY & # 39; HU Sports)

NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka reached Wednesday first place in the semifinal of the Grand Slam career, following her first major quarter-final.

It took only 57 minutes for Osaka, seeded No. 20, to defeat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1. Osaka is the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Kimiko Date at Wimbledon in 1996.

Osaka, 20, dominated with his serve, losing only three points in service thanks to 6-1, 4-0 in the game. Overall, she lost seven points in seven games.

In the last game she served – the sixth match of the second run – she fell behind 0-40 and saved four break points to end the match without giving up her serve.

"I was panicking inside," Osaka told the crowd during a field interview afterwards. "Just as my whole body was shaking, I was really glad I could play well today."

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Osaka also told the crowd how she thought her game had evolved this season. She started the year in 68th position and climbed to 19th place. She won her first league title at the Indian Wells tournament in March.

Since the beginning of the year, she has been coached by Aleksandar (Sascha) Bajin, who was previously a striking partner of Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.

"I fought for every point and it's something I've struggled with in the past," she said of the match. "So that shows that I have matured."

The victory was not even Osaka's best performance in the tournament, where in five games she lost just one set (against Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka, 26th) in the fourth round.

In the third round, Osaka won an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win over Sabalenka peasant Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Osaka holds dual Japanese and American nationality. She was born in Osaka, Japan, of a Japanese mother and a father of Haitian descent. His father was educated in New York before moving to Japan for 13 years.

At the age of 3, his family moved to New York and eventually settled in Florida. She currently lives in Fort Lauderdale and trains in Boca Raton.

His hometown probably explains why Osaka did not find a day of such dreadful heat and humidity.

"In fact, I do not think it's so hot," she said. "I think it's because I'm used to the heat of Florida. I like to sweat.

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