Both ATP and WTA players are still competing in the latter stages of the 2025 season.
This includes the WTA 125 tournament in Limoges, where two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova returned to tennis.
However, this did not go to plan for the former world number two, with Krejcikova forced to retire with injury in her first round match.
While Krejcikova’s tournament in Limoges did not go as she would have liked, a former top 30 player went all the way to the title after six months on the injury sidelines.
Anhelina Kalinina wins title at her first tournament in six months
Anhelina Kalinina has been ranked as high as world number 25, and even reached the final of the WTA 1000 tournament at the 2023 Italian Open.
The Ukrainian, who has a winning record against world number one Aryna Sabalenka, was even ranked inside the top 50 as early as February, but after struggling to find form Kalinina fell outside the top 100 for the first time in four years.
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This all came to a standstill for Kalinina after the French Open, when she retired due to a right arm injury at the WTA 125 tournament in Bari, Italy.
As a result, Kalinina was forced out of action for six months, before she returned at the aforementioned tournament in Limoges, France.
Although she is a former top 30 player, Kalinina has never won a title on the main tour, with her biggest career title also coming at the WTA 125 event in Limoges back in 2022.
Kalinina returned as if she had never left and beat four top 100 players en route to winning the Open de Limoges.
This culminated in a final victory over second seed Elsa Jacquemot, with Kalinina coming back from 5-3 down in the deciding set to win her first title in three years.
After triumphing in Limoges, Kalinina posted a message on social media to reflect on her comeback to the WTA Tour.
Kalinina wrote on Instagram, “Just leaving this here…Thank you all for the love, congratulations, and support. So happy to be back in sport and doing what I love. Great week — and we keep moving forward.”
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Will Anhelina Kalinina play at the Australian Open?
After winning the WTA 125 title in Limoges, Kalinina has been rewarded by climbing 28 places up the rankings to world number 127.
Despite beating many of the players who have received direct entry into the Australian Open, Kalinina has not confirmed her own attendance yet.
Kalinina’s ranking was too low to gain direct entry into the Melbourne major, and she was also unable to obtain a protected ranking high enough to do so.
Instead, Kalinina will need to play qualifying at the Australian Open next year, which will be her first time in Grand Slam qualifying since Wimbledon in 2021.
Australian Open qualifying gets underway on Monday, January 12, and it is unclear as to whether Kalinina will play any tournaments prior.
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