NEW YORK — Kei Nishikori rallied to outlast Marin Cilic on Wednesday at the US Open, giving Japan a men’s and women’s semifinalist at the same Grand Slam for the first time, according to the ATP Tour.
Nishikori won the rematch of the 2014 final with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 victory in a match that lasted 4 hours, 8 minutes.
In the match before Nishikori’s, Naomi Osaka moved into her first Grand Slam semifinal by routing Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1.
Only once in the professional era that began in 1968 had Japan had a men’s and women’s player in the quarterfinals at the same tournament. That was at Wimbledon in 1995, and both Shuzo Matsuoka and Kimiko Date lost in that round.
The seventh-seeded Cilic won the 2014 final in straight sets for his only career major title. Nishikori said this week that he was nervous once that championship match began — but Wednesday’s match was nothing like that day.
Instead, it resembled their 2010 second-round match at Flushing Meadows, when Nishikori rallied to win in five sets in 4 hours, 59 minutes, the fifth-longest men’s singles match by time in US Open history.
Each man blew chances to gain control and perhaps have a much quicker ending to a match that had wild swings of momentum.
Cilic appeared to be coasting after taking the first set and opening a 4-2 lead in the second. The Croatian then had the lead in the third-set tiebreaker, until double-faulting on consecutive serves.
After Cilic evened the match by taking the fourth following a 10-minute break for heat, Nishikori was on the verge of running away with the fifth, holding a break point for a 5-1 lead. Instead, Cilic held and then broke Nishikori on his way to evening the set at 4-all; but then Nishikori took the final two games.
The No. 21-seeded Nishikori continued his strong season after returning from a wrist injury that forced him to miss the US Open last year. He will play either No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic or unseeded John Millman on Friday.
“I wish I don’t go to five sets every time,” Nishikori said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.