Pan Pacific Open: Kenin advances to final

Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin has advanced to the final of the Pan Pacific Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over ninth-seeded Katie Boulter on Saturday.

Kenin, who won the Australian Open in 2020 and was a French Open finalist the same year, broke the British player’s serve in the seventh game of the second set and the American served out to win the match for her best tournament performance of the season.

Kenin will play No. 1 seed and Paris Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen. who beat Diana Shnaider 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the other semifinal.

The 25-year-old Kenin was ranked as high as No. 4 early in 2020, but a series of injuries, including ankle and quadricep ailments, has seen her WTA ranking drop to its current 155.

Boulter, ranked 33rd, had not lost a set during the Tokyo hard-court tournament.

Kenin beat Boulter in the only other time they have played but it was when Boulter retired with an injury in the second set while trailing 4-1 to Kenin after losing the first set in Acapulco in 2019.