FOR all intents and purposes, the WTA Tour season is now over. The WTA Finals have been run and won, and the Billie Jean King Cup marked the last event for many of the world’s top players. Mid-November has traditionally been the close of business for many Top 100 players – and indeed the majority of the Tour – with only WTA 125 events remaining. So, just what are those tournaments and who might compete there?

Montevideo Open
Uruguay (Clay)
Nov 15 – 21

The first tournament in the remaining trip is the WTA 125 event on the clay of Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. The Montevideo Open has a total prizepool of $125,000 USD, with the singles draw containing 32 players and the doubles, 16 pairings. The event is a brand new event to the circuit, so it is hard to work out any history there. The men played there last week for the Uruguay Open.

Looking at who has signed up for the women’s draw, it is about what you would expect for a WTA 125 event, though one teenage star is top seed. Colombian 19-year-old Maria Camila Osorio Serrano won her first title in April this year, winning the Copa Colsanitas in her home nation, before reaching the final in Tenerife, Spain last month and losing to Ann Li. China’s Shuai Zhang and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia are the other Top 100 ranked players at the event. Red-hot Hungarian Anna Bondar is fifth seed, and 16-year-old Andorran Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva has received a wildcard into the event.

Open Angers Arena Loire
France (Hard)
Dec 6 – 12

Another brand new tournament on the circuit is Open Angers Arena Loire, which has prizemoney of $125,000 USD matching the WTA 125 event status. The most recent up-to-date information via the tournament website is that a dozen Top 100 players will compete at the hard court tournament.

Unsurprisingly despite its low status, the tournament has attracted some quality French players. Among them are Alize Cornet, Kristina Mladenovic and Clara Burel, and the lowest ranked automatic entry is at 147th, far higher than the Montevideo Open. Former world number two Vera Zvonareva will also compete, whilst another former Top 20 player in Mihaela Buzarnescu has also committed to the tournament. France should have a stranglehold on the trophy, with Oceane Dodin and Chloe Paquet among the other confirmed nominations.

Open BLS De Limoges
France (Hard)
Dec 13 – 19

The Limoges Open or Ekaterina Alexandrova trophy as it could be renamed, is set to officially close out the WTA Tour season once again. Traditionally played in November across the first five editions from 2014-18, the Limoges Open was moved to December and concluded a few days before Christmas in 2019, which was the last official running of the event. There, Alexandrova won her third trophy, having saluted in three of the last four events.

Now that Alexandrova has been able to crack into that Top 30 during the season and find form elsewhere it will be interesting to see if she returns to defend her back-to-back titles. Expect many of the players from Angers to back-up with another tournament here given the location, though for non-French players, it might be spent travelling home ahead of Christmas and a short break. With the Australian summer a few weeks later, this tournament should really only attract those needing to crack into the Top 100 for automatic Australian Open entry.

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