Miyu Kato, Tim Puetz win mixed doubles title

Japan’s Miyu Kato and Germany’s Tim Puetz captured the French Open 2023 mixed doubles crown on Thursday, defeating Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, [10-6] in the final.
Andreescu and Venus overcame a difficult start to win the first set after coming back from a breakdown. Kato and Puetz broke in the first game, increasing their lead to 4-2. The second set went with the server, with limited possibilities to break. At 4-3, Andreescu and Venus had an opportunity to break, but the Canadian misfired on a return into the net, allowing Kato and Puetz to square the set at 4-4.
Andreecu and Venus’ wasted opportunity would cost them dearly. In the second game, Kato and Puetz took a 15-40 lead and broke on the deciding point to take a 5-4 lead. Puetz saved two break points, and Kato scored two returns to win the set and force a tiebreak.
After Venus struck a double-fault down 4-3, Kato and Puetz created a 6-3 lead in the match tiebreak, and Kato followed with gutsy work at the net to extend the lead. The Japanese-German pair rode their momentum to victory, winning after a Venus forehand hit the net.
“It has been really challenging for me for the past few days. I want to thank all the players, coaches, and everyone for their heartfelt messages of support,” WTA.com quoted Kato as saying. “They had a breakpoint at 4-3 to go up 5-3. With Mikey serving after, it would have been very tough to come back from that. We just hung in there, believed in ourselves, and did really well. “We played a really good super tiebreak in the end,” Puetz said. “I think I speak for both of us that we are really, really happy to be called Grand Slam champions,” Puetz added.