Boulter’s clay-court appearances over the years have been limited by back and foot injuries, with the Englishwoman joking on Thursday she had “nothing against” the surface.

She started well, outmuscling Parry with her forehand to break her in the first game of the match, and backed that up with a swift hold.

Parry had looked nervous, perhaps briefly overwhelmed by the packed crowd inside the stadium, but she channelled the noise and cheers well, reeling off five games in a row to leave Boulter serving to stay in the set.

It looked as though Boulter would stop the rot as she got to 40-0 on serve but a series of errors, not helped by her first serve disappearing, gave Parry a set point, and a poor slap into the net tape gave the Frenchwoman the opening set.

That was all the encouragement Parry needed. Her one-handed backhand – a rare sight in the women’s game – mixed with heavy forehand hitting helped keep an increasingly frustrated Boulter out of the match.

Boulter was unable to stem the tide, finishing with 29 unforced errors, with Britain hoping Raducanu can get them to parity in her first BJK Cup match since 2023.