Katie Boulter vowed to continue having fun on the court after beating Emma Navarro to reach her biggest career final at the San Diego Open.
The British number 1, who claimed her first WTA Tour title on grass in Nottingham last summer, will challenge for the trophy for the first time at a WTA 500 tournament thanks to a 6-3 6-1 victory.
Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and victory over her third top-30 opponent of the week guarantees she will climb at least 14 places in the rankings to a new career-high of 35.
She will break the top 30 if she can beat Marta Kostyuk in the final on Sunday night – where she will be watched by boyfriend Alex de Minaur, who planned an early morning flight after retaining his title in Acapulco.
Boulter said: “Today was one of those games where everything clicked. I came on the field and started the first few games and I could feel the strength she had and the way she works and maneuvers the ball.
“I had to come up with something better, play more aggressively and go for it. I think this was my chance to trust myself and trust the work I put in, and it paid off. It’s my biggest career final yet. I’m just going to continue having fun.”
The 27-year-old from Leicester dominated on her serve against third seed Navarro, winning more than 87% of first serve points and allowing the American just two break points, both of which she saved. Rain halted play early in the second set, but the delay did nothing to dampen Boulter’s momentum as she secured victory in just 48 minutes of play.
“It was obviously very difficult with the rain delay in the middle of the race,” said Boulter, who was well outside the top 100 a year ago. “I felt like I had the momentum behind me, I put a lot of pressure on myself during the rain delay to stay focused and stay warm and continue that momentum and I think I came out and did some really good things played to start with and kept that going and I think that was super important today.
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Kostyuk also had one of the best weeks of her career as she stunned top American seed Jessica Pegula 7-6 (4) 6-1. It was the 21-year-old’s first victory over a top five player after coming back from 5-1 down in the first set.