On the hunt for a third WTA Tour final of the campaign, Katie Boulter squares up to Yuan Yue in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open on Saturday. The British number one bagelled Russia's Anastasia Zakharova en route to another final-four appearance, while her sixth-seeded foe eliminated former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin . © Imago Underlining her credentials as the golden girl of British tennis, three-time WTA Tour champion Boulter is poised for a second-straight semi-final appearance on the WTA Tour after coming so close yet so far at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Kenin denied her a fourth top-level career final last month, but the 28-year-old has been near-flawless during her barnstorming Hong Kong campaign so far, reaching the final four without dropping a single set in any of her three matches. After eliminating Aoi Ito and Wang Xiyu from the earlier rounds, Boulter was given another stern test of her credentials when she squared up to Russian Zakharova, ranked 113th in the world, but an exemplary second set allowed Boulter to come through 6-4 6-0. The solid second seed fired five aces and saved both break points that Zakharova managed to fashion in the quarter-final clash, surviving a couple of scares in the seventh game of the first set before going on the warpath, winning the final eight games of the match.
Should the world number 29 right her Toray Pan Pacific wrongs and set up a final showdown with Diana Shnaider or Leylah Fernandez , history will be on her .
