The Brit in her element on her best surface

Katie Boulter is playing on her favorite surface, in her own stadium, in front of her home crowd. The Leicester native has a 64% career win rate on grass at WTA Tour level, two titles on the surface, and some encouraging recent form after her comeback against Fernandez in the first round. Her 2026 season is far from perfect, but on grass she always turns back into the tricky, hard‑to-handle player she has been since her early days on tour.

Jaqueline Cristian comes in with a solid 2026 season and a higher ranking, but grass is still her nemesis, with only two wins and six losses in her WTA Tour career on this surface. Her victory over Zheng in the first round is encouraging, but Zheng herself was going through a very rough patch. Cristian herself admits she has a complicated relationship with grass.