Learning how to play on the tricky clay surface has never come easy to Boulter.
Most British players have historically not grown up playing on the surface and Boulter – who became the nation’s leading women’s player almost two years ago – has never had a great deal of exposure on the red dirt.
As a result she struggled with the fluidity and trust in her movement – a necessary skill to thrive on clay.
Boulter only made her debut at Roland Garros last year, despite being seeded as a result of her ability on hard and grass courts.
To her great credit, she has continued to persist in her efforts to improve.
In the build-up to the Paris major, she dropped down to the second-tier of the WTA Tour and was rewarded with a maiden clay title in the French capital.
A first-round draw against Monnet – a 23-year-old wildcard ranked 193 places below her – could not have been a better opportunity to earn a Roland Garros win.
It was not all plain-sailing. But Boulter started to play more freely after a scrappy start and her greater quality was too much for her inexperienced opponent.
Afterwards, Boulter said she did not think her below-par start was down to feeling any pressure of landing that elusive French Open win.
“Obviously that does mean a fair bit to me,” she added.
“But I think because I played so well last week and I started building a lot of momentum, ultimately I start putting more pressure on myself.
“I think that’s where a bit of experience showed today, because I dug in in the biggest moments, especially in the start of both sets.
“That gave me a lot of confidence just to kind of keep going for my shots. It allowed me to close the door.”
