Tokyo, Oct 25, 2024
Katie Boulter, the 28-year-old British tennis standout, has turned around a rough stretch on the WTA Tour’s Asian swing by booking a spot in the Pan Pacific Open semifinals with an emphatic 6-2, 6-1 victory over former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
After early exits in recent tournaments—losing in the first round at Wuhan and the second round to Coco Gauff at the China Open—Boulter displayed resilience as she dismantled Andreescu in a dominant showing.
Boulter will now face another Grand Slam champion, Sofia Kenin, in the semifinals. The 2020 Australian Open winner defeated fifth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-4 in her quarterfinal match.
On the other side of the draw, top-seeded Zheng Qinwen, who won Olympic gold in Paris, is slated to take on eighth-seeded Leylah Fernandez. The winner will face Diana Shnaider, who received a walkover after her quarterfinal opponent, Sayaka Ishii, was unable to play due to an undisclosed illness or injury.
For Zheng, Tokyo holds special significance. It was here in 2022 that, at just 19, she reached her first-ever WTA final, narrowly losing to Liudmila Samsonova. Now, just two years later, she has ascended to new heights, coming off a run to the Wuhan final that secured her qualification for the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month.(Agency)
