Paris 2024 Olympic champion and No. 1 seed Qinwen Zheng (China) qualified for the final of the UTA 500 hard court tennis tournament in the Japanese capital Tokyo, which has a prize pool of 922 573 dollars, reports BTA. Zheng defeated Russian Diana Schneider 7:6(5), 6:3 in 1:49 hours.
The Chinese has secured a place in the final in Tokyo for the second time in her career, where she will seek compensation for her defeat to Lyudmila Samsonova in 2022. The Olympic champion took the first set after a tiebreak, and in the second part she led 5:2 and closed the match without problems.
In the other semi-final, 2020 Australian Open champion Sophia Kennin (USA) handled British No. 1 Katie Boulter 6-4, 6-4 in just under 90 minutes to reach her first final at single from San Diego last year.
Kenin, 25, finished second at the 2020 French Open. She reached a career high of #4 this season, but injuries, illness and off-court issues have caused her position to drop in the world rankings.