US Open 2020: American player Jennifer Brady, Naomi Osaka secure semi-final slots

Jennifer Brady reaches first US Open semi-final for beating Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-2

Jennifer Brady will represent America in this year’s US Open semi-final for the first time in her career, which is also her first Grand Slam semi-final after beating Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-2 on Tuesday, 8 September 2020.

The 25-year-old will next face fourth seed Naomi Osaka who defeated Shelby Rogers in Tuesday’s other quarter-final.

Brady, who hasn’t dropped a set at Flushing Meadows, is the first former college player to reach the women’s quarter-finals at the US Open since Gigi Fernandez in 1994.

In contrast to Brady’s joy, Putintseva cut a frustrated figure at the other side of the net. The 23rd seed was clearly irked by the fact that she was not able to get into her groove against a player she had beaten twice before.

Watch the match highlights below…

“Today I was a lot more aggressive, especially on the first ball,” Brady said after her victory.

“I was trying to be as aggressive as possible. The last couple of times that I played her, I got caught into playing her game.”

Brady admitted she arrived on the court for the quarter-final with nerves flying around but said she was pleased with how she managed them.

“I tried to treat it like all of the other matches,” she says.

“I tried to pretend like it was a first-round match. I was happy with the way that I started, I was able to find momentum and build from it.”

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Naomi Osaka reaches semi-finals after taking revenge on Shelby Rogers

Fourth seed Naomi Osaka continues her fine form as she claimed a US Open semi-final spot, overpowering world number 93 Shelby Rogers in straight sets.

Victory was never in doubt for Osaka despite being broken once in the first set but managed to cruise to a 6-3 6-4 win.

The 22-year-old will next face American 28th seed Jennifer Brady in the semi-finals.

Watch the match highlights below…

“I feel pretty good,” says Naomi Osaka, who wore a face mask with George Floyd’s name on it in her on-court interview as she continues to raise awareness of racial injustice.

“The scoreline might not suggest it but I’ve had a couple of really hard matches that made me really grateful to be in this position.”

Former world number one Osaka had lost to Rogers in straight sets in their past three meetings with the last of those coming in 2017.

“I just felt like she had the upper hand because I’ve never beaten her and those memories are stuck in my head,” Osaka adds. “I consider this a little bit of revenge.”