French Open 2026 Results: Katie Boulter wins to reach second round

The 29-year-old has struggled in 2025, falling from world No. 24 to the top 100 and losing her British No. 1 ranking due to injury issues.

In search of a fresh start, she parted ways with long-time coach Biljana Veselinovic and appointed Michael Joyce – Maria Sharapova’s former coach – at the start of 2026.

Boulter returned to the world top 100 after a first-round exit at the Australian Open in January, winning the WTA 250 in Ostrava and making a run to the third round in Miami.

But her form has been inconsistent and she has won just three WTA Tour-level singles matches out of four clay-court tournaments leading up to the Paris major.

Unforced errors flew freely from both players’ rackets and the pair traded breaks twice in the opening set before Boulter served out the second time on demand.

Back-to-back Boulter errors put Urhobo on the front foot early in the second, and though Boulter leveled the score in the middle, the Florida native quickly regained her advantage to force a decider.

Boulter took a break in the fourth game to assert her dominance in the tournament and both players raised their rankings in the third round and the quality improved slightly.

Once again, the Englishman failed to serve out the set and eventually broke Urhobo’s serve for the sixth time – after two hours and 10 minutes to seal victory.

In the end, 58 unforced errors on Boulter’s 35 proved too costly for young star Urhobo, who broke 200 for the first time earlier this year.