British number one Katie Boulter missed out on a place in the Pan Pacific Open final 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 year but lost 6-4 6-4 in Tokyo in one hour and 30 minutes to the former world number four.
Boulter was broken twice in the first set and, although she recovered one of the breaks when Kenin first served for the set, she was unable to break again and the 2020 Australian Open champion secured the set at the second time of asking.
Kenin had to save four break points in the sixth game of the second set but held on to make it 3-3 and broke the Briton in the following game, maintaining her advantage after that to reach the final.
She will face top seed Zheng Qinwen of China in the showpiece after the Olympic champion defeated sixth seed Diana Shnaider from Russia 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
It is the second time Zheng has reached the final of the tournament, after she was beaten by Liudmila Samsonova in 2022.
