Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin advances to the WTA tournament final in Tokyo

TOKYO (AP) — 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.

Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin advances to the WTA tournament final in Tokyo | iNFOnews.ca — Russia’s Diana Shnaider plays against China’s Zheng Qinwen during the second semifinal match of the Pan Pacific Open women’s tennis tournament at Ariake Coliseum, in Tokyo, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

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.

Boulter beat 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu on Friday in the quarterfinals.