The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) divides its tournaments in three categories. The lower most category of tournaments comprise of the ITF Women’s Circuit. The highest category is the WTA Tour level tournaments. In between these two categories comes the WTA 125 series.
The WTA 125 series was also known as the WTA 125k till 2020. The K is added as a suffix because of the amount the winner gets, i.e., $125000 inclusive of the hospitality. The highest prize money offered at this tier is $162,480. At times the tier is also called WTA 125s. The ‘s’ in 125s simply represents ‘series.’
The WTA 125K was introduced in 2012. It is often considered as the female counterpart of the Men’s Challenger Tour. The players who progress in the WTA 125 get the opportunity to gain points and qualify for the draws in WTA Tour level tournaments.
The tournaments were introduced with the goal to help emerging players to improve their quality and level of play and prepare them for future challenges. This tournament helps the lower ranked players by offering them a chance to compete with higher ranked players. The winner of the tournament is awarded 160 points.
Here is a list of the venues where the WTA 125 events are held:
Andorra, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Santiago, Makarska, Contrexeville, Paris, Rouen, Budapest, Bari, Gaiba, Tampico, Bucharest, Iasi, Marbella, Valencia, Bastad, Concord, Midland and Montevideo
