From the brink to champion: the winner of the final WTA event of 2025 seals a comeback story

World No. 155 Anhelina Kalinina claimed the last title of the season after overcoming Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot, World No. 59 and the tournament's second seed, in the final of the WTA 125 Limoges. It was a tight match where she rallied from 3-5 down in the third set, taking the victory by 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian was looking to claim the Limoges title for the second time—which had been her only Challenger-level title so far, back in 2022 against Clara Tauson. Since then, Kalinina had appearances in two finals: WTA 250 Budapest 2021—defeated by Yulia Putintseva (4-6, 0-6)—and the 2023 Rome Open final, where she bowed out to Elena Rybakina, retiring at the start of the second set (4-6, 0-1, ret.).

This time, Kalinina signed a notable week by stringing together five consecutive wins to secure the title for the second time in Limoges. Along the way, she defeated four of the top five seeds—a total of four rivals inside the top 85—which will mean an important advance in the rankings from World No. 155 to No. 127, giving her the chance to be one of the seeds in the Australian Open qualifying.

The former World No. 25 had started the year inside the top 50—for the fourth consecutive year—but irregular results in the first part of the season, and an injury during the clay swing, ended up taking her out of competition for more than 6 months since her last appearance at the WTA 125 Bari in early June. Kalinina had dropped out of the top 100 around May of this year and out of the top 150 in September, and was fighting to add some points in the final part of the season.

Kalinina's path began by overcoming Liechtensteiner Kathinka Von Deichmann (No. 222), to then advance in tight three-set duels against World No. 74 Sonay Kartal (7-6(4), 1-6, 6-1) and World No. 85 Alycia Parks by 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. Then in the semifinals, she surprised the first seed Cristina Bucsa (No. 54) by 6-4, 6-3, while in the final she ended up overcoming the second seed Elsa Jacquemot.

Kalinina, who has normally stood out more for her results on clay than on other surfaces, was coming off a good serving week, keeping her first serve percentage above 67% during all her matches of the week, and winning at least 66% of those points. Her second-round duel against Kartal had been by far the most complicated on her way to the final, where she exceeded two hours of play and saved 13/17 break points throughout the match.

However, against Jacquemot, things would once again get quite complicated in the more than two and a half hours of play. The first set began with a break against her and the Frenchwoman quickly took the lead up to 3-1. However, the Ukrainian's reaction would come; she sharpened her serve and took five consecutive games—including two breaks—to come back in the set and take the lead 6-3.

Kalinina managed to maintain the momentum at the start, with an opening break and moving ahead to 2-0—totaling a streak of 7 consecutive games. However, Jacquemot would manage a reaction to level things up again, returning the break a few games later. After an even second set, Jacquemot achieved the break in the final part, taking advantage of Kalinina's serving problems to secure the second break of the set in the 10th game and equalize with a 6-4 that took everything to the third set.

In an even start, neither achieved even a break point during a good part of the set and the Frenchwoman managed to go 4-3 up without any break points played so far. Kalinina faltered and the Frenchwoman took the lead 5-3, giving herself the chance to serve to close out the win, but which she ultimately could not take advantage of.

Kalinina showed conviction in the final part of the match and took advantage of the pressure on her rival to take over the match during the last games. The Ukrainian took 16 of the last 21 points played and took four games in a row, which allowed her to come back in the third set and secure the triumph by 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, winning her second career WTA 125 title, and finishing the season getting her career back on track after a few complicated months off the courts.