Boulter, Sherif claim this week's clay-court WTA 125 titles

Great Britain's Katie Boulter and Egypt's Mayar Sherif were this week's clay-court champions on the WTA 125 circuit, as the calendar moves inexorably towards the year's second Grand Slam on the clay of Roland Garros.

Sherif is one of the most prolific victors at WTA 125-level, and she increased her hardware total by winning the Parma Ladies Open title in Italy on Saturday.

Sherif has now won eight WTA 125 titles in her career. The Egyptian started her career a perfect 6-0 in WTA 125 finals, but then lost her next four. She got back on track by winning the Buenos Aires title at the end of last year and has now started another streak.

In the final, No. 5 seed Sherif ended another stellar run by rapidly rising 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, defeating the teen 6-4, 6-4.

Mboko came to Parma directly after an eye-catching showing at WTA 1000 Rome, where she qualified, won a round, and took a set off of eventual finalist Coco Gauff. Mboko continued that form in Parma, proving again she's one to watch.

But Sherif used all of her WTA 125 experience to romp through the Parma singles draw without losing a set. She rises three spots from No. 64 to No. 61 in Monday's updated PIF WTA Rankings.

Also on Saturday, unseeded Czechs Jesika Maleckova and Miriam Skoch stormed past No. 4 seeds Sabrina Santamaria and Tang Qianhui 6-2, 6-0 in a 67-minute final to win the Parma Ladies Open doubles title.

It is the first WTA 125 title for 30-year-old Maleckova, and the second for 28-year-old Skoch.

At the other end of the WTA 125 spectrum from Sherif is Boulter. The Brit won her very first WTA 125 title on Sunday at the Trophee Clarins Paris FRANCE.

Boulter, a three-time titlist at Hologic WTA Tour events, overcame French hope Chloe Paquet 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the singles final at the Lagardere Paris Racing Club.

Boulter had a trickier path to her title than Sherif, needing three-set wins in each of her last three rounds. But the top Briton in the PIF WTA Rankings prevailed nonetheless for the highest-level clay-court title of her career.

With the title, Boulter maintains her British No. 1 status, moving up from No. 40 to No. 38 in Monday's updated rankings -- five spots ahead of British No. 2 and World No. 43 Emma Raducanu.

The Trophee Clarins Paris FRANCE doubles title went to No. 2 seeds Irina Khromacheva and Fanny Stollar, who squeaked past unseeded Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls in Saturday's final, 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-5].

Khromacheva has won six WTA 125 doubles titles, and Stollar is 4-0 in WTA 125 doubles finals. This is their first WTA 125 title as a pairing, though.