Miyu Kato, who was disqualified from the French Open Women’s Doubles, won the Mixed Doubles for the first time in four major tournaments, and Japanese women reached the top for the second year in a row.

Last Updated on 06/08/2023 by てんしょく飯

On June 8, at the French Open Tennis Tournament (Red Clay, Grand Slam, Paris, France), the Mixed Doubles final was held, with Miyu Kato and T. Puetz (Germany) defeating B. Andreescu (Canada) and M. Venus (New Zealand) in an upset 4-6, 6-4, [10-6], the first win for either player in their careers. Both players won their first career four-major tournaments.

This is the first time Kato has competed in the French Open Mixed Doubles. She was paired with World No. 24 Puetz, who is ranked No. 24 in the men’s doubles.

Kato played against S. Sorribes Tormo (Spain)/M. Bouzkova (Czech Republic) in the women’s doubles third round on June 4, but was disqualified in the middle of the second set when Kato hit the ball against the ball girl. Nevertheless, in the mixed doubles quarterfinals on the following day, Kato defeated L. Stefani (Brazil)/R. Matos (Brazil) in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to advance to the last four for the first time.

In the first set of the day, the Kato/ Puetz pair succeeded in breaking in the first game. In the fourth game, Kato/ Puetz was down 0-40, but held on for five straight points to take a 3-1 lead in the game. However, the Kato/ Puetz pair broke back in the eighth game, and in the tenth game, they were on the wrong end of two break points before Puetz ‘s shot hit the net to put them ahead.

In the second set, the Kato/ Puetz pair struggled against the powerful shots of Andreescu /Venus. In the fourth and eighth games, the Kato/ Puetz pair had break points, but they were able to hold on and in the ninth game, Kato volleyed to break first. In the 10th game, which was a serving for the set, Kato held to make it one set all.

Kato/ Puetz won the 10-point match tiebreaker, and the match lasted over an hour and a half.

Last year, Shibahara, who paired with W. Koolhof (Netherlands) and was seeded second in the tournament, beat U. Eikeri (Norway)/J. Vliegen (Belgium) in the final to become the first Japanese in 25 years to win the tournament. Kato’s victory was the second consecutive win for the Japanese women in the same event.