Tennis – Tim Pütz with the Japanese Kato in the mixed final in Paris – Sport

Paris (AP) – Davis Cup player Tim Pütz can hope for his first Grand Slam triumph in mixed. The 35-year-old professional tennis player from Frankfurt/Main reached the Roland-Garros final with his Japanese partner Miyu Kato. In the semi-finals, the duo defeated Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands 7:5, 6:0. The second set only lasted 17 minutes.

Both Pütz and Kato turned out to be mixed doubles minutes before the entry deadline and also had to survive the difficult emotional phase after the Japanese woman’s disqualification in women’s doubles.

“That would be a pretty fairy tale”

“It would be a pretty fairy tale, something like that probably only exists in mixed,” said Pütz, who failed in men’s doubles with Kevin Krawietz. “I’d rather be in the doubles final, that’s a secret. Of course I’m also happy to be in the mixed final. Hopefully tomorrow we can get another win out of our sleeves and then I can qualify from Grand Slam winner with an asterisk.”

The final will take place Thursday at 12 p.m. in the main square of Paris. Next up is Bianca Andreescu from Canada and former Pütz doubles partner Michael Venus from New Zealand. In addition, the winning duo will receive a cash prize of 122,000 euros. Anna-Lena Grönefeld celebrated Germany’s last mixed classic clay success in 2014.

Kato previously disqualified

After the converted match point, Kato was able to laugh again. After winning the quarter-finals, Pütz was asked to comfort the 28-year-old. The Japanese was disqualified in her doubles match with mixed opponent Sutjiadi for hitting a ballerina with a ball. This had caused a lot of controversy as Kato had initially received a warning and the blow had been unintentional and full of force.

“A lot of people said: it was the worst disqualification they’ve ever seen. It was a shock, but more because it happened and not because it was my mixed partner,” Pütz said. .

© dpa-infocom, dpa:230607-99-971423/5

Ash Larson

Wannabe twitter expert. Music evangelist. Internetaholic. Evil social media enthusiast.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *