Ninth seed Katie Boulter of Britain reached the semifinals of the WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open by defeating Canadian wildcard Bianca Andreescu 6-2, 6-1 at the Ariake Coliseum on Friday.
This marks Boulter’s fourth quarter-final appearance this season. She is now aiming for her third title of the year after previous victories in Nottingham and San Diego. Currently ranked No. 33, Boulter will face the winner of the match between American Sofia Kenin and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the tournament’s No. 3 seed.
Prior to her victory over Andreescu, Boulter had also won against Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon (6-1, 6-4) and Japanese lucky loser Kyoka Okamura (6-1, 6-2). With this win, Boulter improved her career record against Canadian players to 3-0. This result marks the best performance by a British player in the tournament’s history.
Earlier in the week, Andreescu, ranked No. 159, achieved victories against Japanese qualifier Mei Yamaguchi (7-5, 6-3) and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No. 2 seed (3-0 ret.). The loss to Boulter was notable for Andreescu, as it was her first defeat against a British player on the tour, having previously won all six encounters.
In other quarter-final matches at the Tokyo WTA 500 event, Qinwen Zheng will face Leylah Fernandez, and Diana Shnaider will compete against Sayaka Ishii.
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