Katie Boulter battled through the Japan Open qualifying, and she’s already been rewarded by her draw opening up.
The draw has been released for the Japan Open, and it’s been thrown wide open by the withdrawal of Jasmine Paolini.
Paolini qualified for the WTA Finals so decided to skip the Japanese tournament before the year-end competition in Saudi Arabia.
Boulter’s qualification has been boosted by being drawn in the area that Paolini would have been, and now she has a golden opportunity of going deep in the tournament.
Katie Boulter has just two seeds in her side of the draw in Japan
Boulter’s route through qualifying has been rewarded with a first-round match against another qualifier in Tokyo.
The British star will play Eva Lys in the first-round, who has been impressive in bursts this year but hasn’t set the world alight in Asia.
Lys’ appearance in the China Open quarter-final was impressive, but she suffered multiple early exits in tournaments around the Beijing event.
Should Boulter get past Lys, then she will play either Victoria Mboko, who took Paolini’s seed or wild card Bianca Andreescu.
Both women have been out of form in recent months, with Mboko failing to pick up a win since she won the Canadian Open.
Andreescu has won just one main draw match during that time, defeating Barbora Krejcikova at the Canadian Open.
Boulter has an excellent chance of making the quarter-finals of the tournament, which will be huge for the British star’s ranking.
Who are the top seeds at the 2025 Japan Open?
While Boulter has managed to miss some of the top seeds in the tournament thanks to Paolini’s omission, there are still some huge players in the tournament.
Ningbo Open winner Elena Rybakina will be the top seed at the event, and she needs a semi-final appearance at the tournament to confirm her place in the WTA Finals.
Elsewhere, the player she beat in the final, Ekaterina Alexandrova, will be looking to continue her excellent form in Asia.
Belinda Bencic, Linda Nosková, and Diana Shnaider are also seeded for the event in which Boulter should flourish.
