November 2, 2024
Last September in Ningbo, China, Diana Shnaider and Katie Boulter practiced together for the very first time. First impressions were mutually very positive, impressed by each other’s game and work ethic.
Fourteen months on, they are the WTA 250 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2024 top two seeds, ready to do battle in Sunday’s final. This will be their first meeting on tour.
“It’s so nice that we get the No.1 and No.2 seed against each other in the final, it’s not very often you see this,” stated World No.14 Shnaider, having outplayed defending champion Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals. “It’s going to be our first match playing each other. I’ll just try my best and we’ll fight to the end.
“[Boulter and I] were practicing in Ningbo around this time last year. I felt very bad in that practice, she might say the opposite, but I didn’t feel good and if I remember correctly, she beat me in that one.
“That’s where it all started for me, I went all the way into my first final. Katie is a nice person and a very good player.”
Diana Shnaider defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2, reaching the final in Hong Kong; her fourth final of 2024.
Boulter booked her third final of 2024 with an epic 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 result against Yuan Yue, is projected to reach a new career-high ranking after a semifinal run in Tokyo provided the platform for a memorable week in Causeway Bay.
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