WHILST the majority of the WTA Tour were enjoying a nice month’s break, plenty of lower ranked talents were trying to gain some momentum in the month off ahead of the Australian Summer. Most amazingly, 28-year-old Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic played all three tournaments, choosing to travel to Korea over Christmas – and just falling short of a title – in order to be best prepared for January. In this article we summarise the three WTA Tour 125K events that took place over December.

HANA BANK KOREA OPEN:

[2] Lin Zhu (CHN) defeated [1] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-0 6-4

In the most recent final just a few days ago, second seed Lin dashed top seed Mladenovic’s chances of a late title. The Frenchwoman was unlucky in her runs at home in Angers and Limoges, but looked best suited in Korea. She produced a forgettable performance in the final however, as the consistent Lin broke six times to two, and won 60.6 and 61.1 per cent of her first and second serve points compared to Mladenovic’s 44.2 and 31.6 per cent. In what was a really weak draw – not helped by the fact it literally ran over Christmas – Mladenovic was by far the best player in it, and would have been disappointed not to come away with the title. Having slid all the way down to 86th in the world, the former Top 10 Frenchwoman chose not to have a break over December, playing all three tournaments in the lead-up to the Australian Summer.

OPEN BLS DE LIMOGES

[2] Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) defeated [8] Ana Bogdan (ROU) 6-2 7-5

The second seeded Belgian Van Uytvanck claimed a solid straight sets win over fellow experienced talent Bogdan of Romania. Winning 73.3 and 62.5 per cent of her first and second serve points, Van Uytvanck was too strong on serve. She broke Bogdan five times to two, as the Romanian only won 54.1 and 48.3 per cent of her respective first and second serve points. Both players dashed the hopes of Russian fans, with Van Uytvanck knocking out veteran Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals, whilst Bogdan overcame a challenge from young gun Varvara Gracheva in the other semi. Mladenovic reached the quarter finals before running into Van Uytvanck, whilst fellow home nation competitor Caroline Garcia, and another Belgian in Greet Minnen also reached the final eight.

OPEN ANGERS ARENA LOIRE

Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) defeated [2] Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-0 6-4

The first of two tournaments in France saw the unseeded Russian Diatchenko cruise to victory over the heavily fancied Shuai. With the top seed a late withdrawal from the tournament, Shuai was the top ranked player, but was no match for the red-hot Diatchenko who had a soft draw on her way to the final. The 31-year-old 137th ranked Russian enjoyed good form as Shuai had to overcome the likes of Anna Blinkova and Mladenovic, remarkably not dropping a set until the final. She was no match for the Russian who won in an hour and 32 minutes, winning 85 per cent of her first serve points and breaking five times to one.