Miyu Kato shrugged off the controversy surrounding her this week as she and German partner Tim Puetz reached the French Open mixed doubles final, overcoming Indonesia's Aldila Sutjiadi and Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop 7-5, 6-0 Wednesday in their semifinal.

Miyu Kato (R) of Japan and Tim Puetz of Germany celebrate after winning in the mixed doubles semifinals at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 7, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The match came three days after Kato and Sutjiadi, her women's doubles partner, controversially defaulted a match when a ball Kato casually hit to the opposite end of the court between points at Roland Garros struck a ball girl and left her in tears.

On Tuesday, the Professional Tennis Players Association called the decision to default the pair "unjustifiably disproportionate and unfair."

Both players bounced back in mixed doubles, only for Kato and Puetz to prevail Wednesday in 57 minutes.

Last year, Japan's Ena Shibahara won the French Open mixed doubles title with Dutchman Wesley Koolhof.


Related coverage:

Tennis: Players association calls Kato French Open default "unfair"

Tennis: Miyu Kato lodges appeal after French Open women's doubles default

Tennis: Defaulted player apologizes for stray shot that hit ball girl