British number one Katie Boulter missed out on a place in the Pan Pacific Open final after a straight sets defeat to American wildcard Sofia Kenin in Saturday’s semi-final.
The 28-year-old was aiming to win her third title of the year but lost 6-4 6-4 in Tokyo in an hour and 30 minutes to the former world number four.
Boulter was broken twice in the first set and, although she regained one of the breaks when Kenin first served for the set, she was unable to break again and the champion Australian Open 2020 secured the set at second request.
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 next game, maintaining her advantage to reach the final.
She will face top-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China in the showpiece after the Olympic champion beat sixth seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
This is Zheng’s second time reaching the tournament final, having been defeated by Liudmila Samsonova in 2022.
