Kato, Puetz land first Grand Slam title together

Miyu Kato and Tim Puetz are Grand Slam champions after clinching the mixed doubles at Roland-Garros in their first event together.

In an all-unseeded final, the Japanese-German duo bounced back from dropping their first set of the tournament to deny Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, (10-6) on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Former doubles No.7 Puetz was contesting just his fourth mixed doubles tournament and had never advanced beyond the quarter-finals at a major in any event, while the 28-year-old Kato’s previous best result was a run to the Australian Open women's doubles semi-finals six years ago.

While the pair took down Australian Open champions Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the quarter-finals, Puetz said the belief they could go all the way did not come until their semi-final triumph.

“Probably after yesterday. Before that, so many things can happen in mixed. I feel every mixed is wide open no matter who you play, no matter who is seeded, who is not seeded," Puetz said.

"Then, of course, you get to the stage of the tournament, you get to semis, you have played three matches already. After winning the semis, we played four matches, and you kind of get a feel for how the mixed works. Especially me, because I haven't really played much before. Then of course you go into the final, you play with no ad, and the super-tiebreak you have a chance almost against anybody, really...

"It was probably also good to play so quickly after yesterday. You don't really have time to think about it. You don't have time to think, 'Oh, you're in a Grand Slam final'. You practise one more time, you warm up today, and you play."

'That was really fun'

Venus and Puetz were familiar opponents, having teamed up in men’s doubles throughout 2022.

The Kiwi had tasted success in Paris before as men’s doubles champion with Ryan Harrison six years ago but was searching for his first major mixed doubles crown in a first-time partnership with 2019 US Open singles champion Andreescu.

For Andreescu, the chance to add more Grand Slam silverware on the doubles court only whet her appetite for more.

"That was really fun. I really feel like I needed that just to bring more of that even into my singles game," Andreescu said. "Sometimes I feel like I can be too serious, too hard on myself. But it's obviously nice to have somebody give you some constructive criticism on the court or tell you that everything is fine, don't worry about it, just move on to the next point.

"I could do that myself, but it's always nice to have that person or somebody just say that to you out loud. But, no, I'm definitely going to bring a lot of what I learned in the doubles this week into my singles game."