Boulter thrashed as France take BJK Cup lead over GB

Katie Boulter suffered a chastening loss to Diane Parry as France took a 1-0 lead over Great Britain in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie.

British number one Boulter won the first two games of the match and then lost 12 in a row as Parry claimed a 6-2 6-0 victory on the clay in Le Portel.

Boulter started well but Parry, bolstered by the partisan crowd, mixed power and touch to secure the win.

Emma Raducanu plays Caroline Garcia next in Friday's singles.

The tie in northern France is best-of-five matches, with the winner earning a spot in November's finals.

France are looking to repeat last year's victory over Great Britain in the qualifying competition.

"We played them last year. It was on a hard court but it's still the same girl," Parry said afterwards.

"This year I've been feeling better. I'm a better player. We had a good tactic and I knew exactly what I had to do to win this match."

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.