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Miyu Kato's 2023 French Open campaign went from heartbreaking to elation in a week's span as the Japanese player overcame her heartbreaking disqualification from the women's doubles event with a title run in the mixed doubles.
Partnering up with Germany's Tim Puetz, Miyu Kato defeated Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus in the final on Thursday, securing the trophy with a hardfought 4-6, 6-4, [10-6] comeback. This marks Kato's first ever Grand Slam trophy in any category, the same as Puetz.
Earlier, the 28-year-old's run in the women's doubles had ended in the third round in controversial fashion. Playing alongside Indonesia's Aldila Sutjiadi, the pair had earned themselves a disqualification after Kato accidentally hit a ball kid during their contest against Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova.
After the ball girl began sobbing on the court, followed by a minor complaint from Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova, the tournament referee decided in favor of defaulting the Japanese-Indonesian pair from the event. Kato was also stripped of all ranking points and prize money from the event, while Sutjiadi was spared that fate.
As expected, the tennis fraternity rallied in support of Kato, demanding that she make an appeal to the French Open organizers so she could receive the prize money at least, especially considering it was just an accident.
Interestingly, Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi met along the way in the mixed doubles as well, with Kato and Puetz prevailing 7-5, 6-0 in the semifinals.
Tim Puetz admitted he wasn't concerned about mixed doubles after his partner Miyu Kato had been defaulted from the women's doubles
Speaking to the press after his partner Miyu Kato's disqualification from the women's doubes, French Open mixed doubles champion Tim Puetz had admitted that he was not too concerned with their campaign in light of what had happened.
The German opined that it was a very "bad" default, adding that many of his colleagues also felt the same. Puetz went on to note that he would have felt bad for Miyu Kato even if she had not been his mixed doubles partner, revealing that he was at a loss coming up with solutions that would make her feel better.
"To be honest, I wasn't too concerned about the mixed, to be perfectly honest. With what happened yesterday, it was so bad. It wasn't just me. If what happened was going on in the men's locker room, everybody was saying, Oh, impossible to default her. Then immediately you feel so bad for the person," Puetz said.
"Now it's Miyu, who happens to be my mixed partner, but I would have felt bad for her if she wasn't my mixed partner. Honestly, I didn't really think about the mixed or not at that point. I don't know. You try to come up with any solutions to help, but there's not really anything you can do," he added.
