British primary Katie Boulter missed out on a spot within the Pan Pacific Open last after a straight-set defeat by American wildcard Sofia Kenin in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The 28-year-old had been aiming to win her third title of the yr however misplaced 6-4 6-4 in Tokyo in a single hour and half-hour to the previous world quantity 4.
Boulter was damaged twice within the first set and, though she recovered one of many breaks when Kenin first served for the set, she was unable to interrupt once more and the 2020 Australian Open champion secured the set on the second time of asking.
Kenin needed to save 4 break factors within the sixth recreation of the second set however held on to make it 3-3 and broke the Briton within the following recreation, sustaining her benefit after that to achieve the ultimate.
She is going to face high seed Zheng Qinwen of China within the showpiece after the Olympic champion defeated sixth seed Diana Shnaider from Russia 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
It’s the second time Zheng has reached the ultimate of the event, after she was crushed by Liudmila Samsonova in 2022.