It had been almost a century since a Japanese man made the semifinals of the U.S. Open, but world No. 10 Kei Nishikori dug deep to ensure that unfortunate milestone was not reached. The 24-year-old reached the last four of a grand slam for the first time in his career after a grueling 3-6 7-5 7-6 6-7 6-4 victory over third seed Stan Wawrinka. Nishikori has endured an energy-sapping run to the semis. Before Wednesday's arduous battle with the Swiss star, he beat Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic in a four-hour, 19-minute marathon, which equaled the latest finish to a match at Flushing Meadows, ending at 2:26 a.m.
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Kei Nishikori the first Japanese man to make a grand slam semifinal in over 80 years
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World No. 10 is also the first to grace a U.S. Open semifinal since 1918
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He will next play world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Britain's Andy Murray
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Defending champion Serena Williams to play Ekaterina Makarova in women's semis
"It's great for Kei and @placeholder for him to be in the semifinal.