PARIS: Japan's Miyu Kato and Germany's Tim Puetz clinched the French Open mixed doubles title on Thursday, defeating Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, [10-6] in the final, here.
The French Open is Kato's first Grand Slam title and capped off an emotional week for the 28-year-old Japanese doubles specialist, who was disqualified from the women's doubles competition after inadvertently hitting a ball girl with a ball in the third-round match.
"It has been really challenging for me for the past few days. I want to thank all the players, coaches, everyone for their heartfelt messages of support," Kato was quoted as saying by WTA.
Andreescu and Venus climbed from a break down to take the opening set (4-6) but Kato and Puetz struck back to level the match, taking the second set 6-4.
The Japanese/German duo built a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak after Venus struck a double-fault down 4-3 and Kato followed with courageous work at the net to extend the lead. Kato and Puetz rode their momentum to the win, sealing the match after Venus' forehand fell into the net. IANS
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