Miyu Kato at French Open 2023: From controversial women's doubles disqualification to mixed doubles final

Miyu Kato has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in the space of a few days at the 2023 French Open.

Kato and Sutjiadi partnered in the women's doubles and made it to the third round with straight-sets wins against Jule Niemeier/Caroline Dolehide and Linda Noskova/Irina Khromacheva.

The Indonesian/Japanese pair took on Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo on June 4, where they lost their first set of the tournament. However, they looked set to bounce back as they took a 1-3 lead in the second set.

At this point, however, the match descended into controversy as Kato accidentally hit a ball girl in her attempt to pass it to her. As the ball girl began crying, the chair umpire gave Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi a warning for the former's actions.

Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo, however, were unhappy with the decision. They surrounded the umpire, which led to further discussion with the match supervisor. After that, it was decided that Kato and Sutjiadi would be disqualified, awarding Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo the win.

Several tennis players, both past and present, have since expressed their views on the events. Almost all of them have defended Kato, while questioning the decision to award a walkover to Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo.

Incidentally, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo's run in the women's doubles came to an end in the very next match, with a defeat to Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez. For Sorribes Tormo, the loss hit harder as she had also exited the women's singles not long before that.

Fans took delight in the Czech/Spanish pair's tournament exit, with some chalking it down to karma.

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Miyu Kato takes delight in mixed doubles

It has not all been doom and gloom for Miyu Kato, as she has put her controversial women's doubles behind her to focus on mixed doubles.

A day after her disqualification, she and her German partner Tim Puetz defeated Brazilian duo Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos to reach the semifinals. Incidentally, their win came on Court 14, the same arena where Kato and her doubles partner were controversially disqualified.

While happy with the result, Kato broke down in tears after the mixed doubles quarterfinal and had to be consoled by Puetz. Kato was in tears again during her press interaction and had to briefly exit, before returning to answer questions only in Japanese.

On Wednesday, she faced her women's partner Aldila Sutjiadi, who combined with Matwe Middlekoop, in the last four. Kato/Puetz put on a commanding display to win 7-5, 6-0.

This time, it was all smiles as the two pairs of opponents shared hugs before Kato and Puetz took in the crowd's applause.

Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus face Gabriela Dabrowski and Nathaniel Lammons in the other mixed doubles semifinal, with the winner set to face Kato and Puetz in the title match on Thursday.