Katie Boulter vowed to keep having fun on the court after beating Emma Navarro to reach her biggest career final at the San Diego Open.
The British number one, who claimed her maiden WTA Tour title on grass in Nottingham last summer, will bid for the trophy at a WTA 500 tournament for the first time thanks to a 6-3 6-1 win.
Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and victory over her third top-30 opponent of the week guarantees she will rise at least 14 places in the rankings to a new career-high of 35.
She will break the top 30 if she can defeat Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the final on Sunday night – where she will be watched by boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who scheduled an early-morning flight after retaining his title in Acapulco.
Boulter said: “Today was one of those matches that everything just clicked. I came onto the court and started the first few games and I could feel the power that she had and the way she works and manoeuvres the ball.
“I had to come up with something better and play more aggressive and go for it and I think that was my chance to just trust myself and trust the work I’ve put in and it paid off.
“It’s my biggest career final so far. I’m just going to keep having fun. I’ve got such good vibes going with the team right now so nothing changes there, I’m just going to enjoy myself.”
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The 27-year-old from Leicester dominated on her serve against third seed Navarro, winning more than 87 per cent of first serve points and allowing the American just two break points, both of which she saved.
Rain stopped play early in the second set but the delay did nothing to halt Boulter’s momentum as she wrapped up victory in only 48 minutes of play.
“It was obviously very tricky with the rain delay in the middle of the match,” said Boulter, who was ranked well outside the top 100 a year ago.
“I felt like I had the momentum behind me, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the rain delay to stay focused and stay warm and continue that momentum and I think I came out and played some really good stuff to start with and kept that rolling and I think that was super important today.”
Kostyuk is also having one of the best weeks of her career and she stunned American top seed Jessica Pegula, winning 7-6 (4) 6-1.
It was the 21-year-old’s first win over a top-five player after she came back from 5-1 down in the first set.
Djokovic thrilled by prospect of 'one last dance' with Nadal
Novak Djokovic is thrilled by the prospect of meeting Rafael Nadal for "one last dance" at the Paris Olympics, if the Spaniard overcomes an injury setback to feature at Roland-Garros.
Thursday's men's singles draw saw Djokovic paired with Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round, with Nadal taking on Marton Fucsovics.
The legendary duo – who have won 46 grand slam singles titles between them – will meet in the second round if they both advance through their openers this weekend.
Djokovic and Nadal have previously faced off on 59 occasions, with the Serbian winning 30 of those contests but losing four of the last six, the most recent being a Nadal victory in four sets in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.
Nadal's participation at the Games was thrown into doubt when his coach Carlos Moya said he had suffered a "setback" on Thursday and required 48 hours of rest.
If Nadal – who is widely expected to retire later this year – does make the tournament, Djokovic is looking forward to the prospect of facing him for a 60th time.
"Obviously he hasn't played much. His ranking dropped, so there was always going to be that possibility of me meeting him in an early round and there we go," Djokovic said.
"It's going to be a spectacle, definitely, if we get to meet. We will spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times.
"I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for the both of us."
Djokovic is set to appear at his fifth Olympics in the French capital, the joint-most by any male player since the sport returned to the Games in 1988 (with Yen Hsun Lu).
He is the player with the most matches played (19) and joint-most matches won (13, level with Roger Federer) at the Olympics since 1988.
However, his best result at the Games remains a Bronze medal at Beijing 2008, when he was beaten by eventual gold medallist Nadal in the semi-finals.
Djokovic lost the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, also losing to Juan Martin del Potro at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Linette dominates first all-Polish WTA final to win Prague Open
Magda Linette rounded off her Olympic preparations in style as she claimed her third WTA title with a comfortable win over Magdalena Frech at the Prague Open.
Linette, who beat Viktoriya Tomova and Linda Noskova on her way to the final, won in straight sets 6-2 6-1 as she now heads to Paris to face Mirra Andreeva.
The world number 41 was in the ascendency from the off, forcing a break in the fourth game and never looking back.
Despite the best efforts of Frech, who saved one set point, Linette continued to apply the pressure and another break put her a set up.
Linette would again break in the fourth game of the second set, winning three games on the bounce to secure her first career win over her compatriot.
Data Debrief: Linette prevails in first all-Polish affair
The final in Prague between Linette and Frech was the first all-Polish WTA level final in the Open Era.
Linette's triumph over her opponent was her first, having lost in the pair's previous encounter in Saint-Malo back in 2022.
During the contest, the world number 41 gave nothing away, saving all four of the break points she faced while converting three of the seven she had against Frech.
Nadal suffers injury 'setback' as Olympics participation thrown into doubt
Rafael Nadal may be facing another injury setback at the Paris Olympic Games after his coach warned over the Spaniard's fitness.
The 22-time major champion is widely expected to retire at the end of this year, though is preparing for a final swansong at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 titles.
Nadal is set to play in the singles and doubles tournaments of the Olympics, partnering current French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the latter competition.
Yet his participation has become doubtful after coach Carlos Moya confirmed Nadal had cancelled his training session on Thursday due to a hamstring issue.
"It was a setback and we decided that today Rafa would rest and not train to recover," Moya said, as quoted by Spanish journalist Rafael Plaza.
"We are going to give ourselves 48 hours, we have to wait."
The 38-year-old is reportedly feeling soreness in both his left and right hamstring having pulled out of a scheduled practice session with Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz had been partnering Nadal throughout the week during training on the clay courts of Paris, though the veteran's feature has now been thrown under a cloud of doubt.
Nadal is one of just two players to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles since the sport returned to the Games in 1988, doing so at Beijing 2008 (singles) and Rio 2016 (doubles).
In the singles in the French capital, Nadal has been drawn against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the opening round, and the prize could be a second-round date with long-term rival Novak Djokovic.
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