US Open Tennis 2016 Results: Scores, Highlights from Early Wednesday Results

Wednesday is the final day of quarterfinal action at the 2016 U.S. Open, with four men and four women seeking to keep their dream of winning a Grand Slam championship alive. 

Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro are in the prime-time matchups under the lights in New York. 

Before getting to those marquee matchups, though, here are the results from Wednesday's early singles action at this year's U.S. Open:

Matchup	Winner	Score
No. 10 Karolina Pliskova vs. Ana Konjuh	Pliskova	6-2, 6-2
No. 2 Andy Murray vs. No. 6 Kei Nishikori	Nishikori	1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5

Kei Nishikori def. Andy Murray (1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5)

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Staring defeat in the face Kei Nishikori battled back from a 3-2 set deficit and a near collapse with a 4-3 lead in the fifth set to defeat Andy Murray and reach the U.S. Open semifinals. 

The match took four hours to complete, with Nishikori completely transforming his game after falling behind right out of the gate. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Murray's loss ends a 12-year streak of dominance for three of the world's best players:

While there were a lot of moments to pinpoint when Nishikori found his groove, the biggest tell for him came in unforced errors. In the two sets he lost, the 26-year-old hit a combined 31 unforced errors. In his three set wins, he hit a total of 29. 

The drop shot was also a huge piece of Nishikori's game. There were numerous long rallies between the two competitors, but Nishikori was able to keep Murray off balance frequently with beautiful placement on his shots. 

Murray also seemed to come unraveled during the fourth set when a gong went off in Arthur Ashe Stadium during a rally. The chair umpire stopped the action, causing the Scotland native to loudly voice his displeasure. 

Nishikori cruised to an easy win in that fourth set, capped off by this point, via U.S. Open Tennis:

The loss ends Murray's string of Grand Slam success in 2016. He was seeking his fourth major-tournament final of the year after losing the Australian Open and French Open and winning at Wimbledon. 

Murray was also coming off the high of winning a second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, but this turned out to be an off-night for him. 

Nishikori happily took advantage of his opportunity, though it would be misleading to call this an upset. ESPN Stats & Info highlighted his success against top-10 players in his career at this tournament:

Top-two seeds have given Nishikori problems lately, with ATP Media Info noting his win today ended a 12-match losing streak against players seeded first or second since defeating Novak Djokovic in the 2014 U.S. Open semifinal. 

That 2014 win over Djokovic is also the only time Nishikori has reached a Grand Slam final, though he was defeated by Marin Cilic for the title. He has earned a shot at redemption two years later, with del Potro or Wawrinka standing in his way in Friday's semifinal. 

Karolina Pliskova def. Ana Konjuh (6-2, 6-2)

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Ana Konjuh's Cinderella run at the U.S. Open came to an abrupt end against No. 10 Karolina Pliskova, who needed just 57 minutes to secure her first appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal. 

Fittingly, to illustrate how one-sided the match was, Pliskova closed out her win with an ace that Konjuh had no response to.

The first serve and unforced errors were the key difference for Pliskova. She only had three aces in the match, but 65 percent of her first-serve attempts landed in and she won 22 of 24 first-serve points. 

At this stage of the tournament, Konjuh had to play perfect tennis if she wanted to keep going. Her serve was working in the fourth round against Agnieszka Radwanska with six aces, though she still had 27 unforced errors. 

Today, though, Konjuh had four aces, four double faults and 27 unforced errors. She was off her game right from the start and had no response when things started to snowball. 

While this was a rough ending for Konjuh, she clearly has a bright future in the sport. She is just 18 years old, and this was easily her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament after previously reaching the third round at Wimbledon in 2014. 

Pliskova has slowly been building momentum for this moment. The 24-year-old won the Western & Southern Open last month by defeating Angelique Kerber in the final, her second singles title of the year. 

The bad news for Pliskova is she has a 1-5 combined career record against Williams and Halep, her potential opponents in the semifinals.

But if you want to make history, you have to conquer some giants along the way. Pliskova is riding the hottest streak of her career with 10 straight wins in singles competition and will be ready for her biggest moment as a professional.