WATCH: Miyu Kato unintentionally hits the ball girl resulting in an unfortunate disqualification win to Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova at the French Open
Sorribes Tormo advances both on the doubles and singles court.
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Miyu Kato's disqualification (Image via Eurosport)
The third round of the women’s doubles draw at the 2023 Roland Garros was not short of action. However, it was not about what happened at a rally or a point. It was more off-field action that grabbed attention.
Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo took on Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato. The match was on Court 14, but it gained more attention than Center Court with what was to follow. The match couldn’t come to a normal end as the Indonesian-JJapanese pair of Sutjiadi and Kato were disqualified from the event.
The first set was tightly contested and won in the tie-breaker by Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova. However, the match was not over, with the Asian pair bouncing back by getting the much-needed crucial break in the second set. The scoreline read 3-1, and they looked more than ready to take the second set home. However, that’s when the ball flew off Kato’s racket and landed on the head of the ball girl, who was standing on the baseline.
It wasn’t done with any intention to harm the ball girl. It was just a normal pass however to the bad luck of the Asian pair it flew off with a lot of speed and hit the ball girl right on the head.
The Umpire took notice of it and the game was over for Sutjiadi and Kato. They defaulted with un-sportsman-like conduct. They and especially Kato would be miserably upset with herself as they were doing well to level the match and this mistake spoiled everything for them. So this means that the European pair of Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo has advanced to the quarter-finals in their draw.
Sorribes Tormo gets rewarded with a default and walkover in the last 24 hours
If someone had to be lucky on the tour, they would choose Sara Sorribes Tormo’s luck. In the last 24 hours, she has been blessed with both a default on the doubles court and a walkover on the singles court. It clearly means she had put in less effort to get to the next round. The singles walkover is a big one, though. Not having to play Elena Rybakina in 2023 is a blessing in disguise.
Being one of the favorites Rybakina was set to lift the trophy in Paris; however, her withdrawal has helped all her future opponents. So it’s been a blessing for the Spaniard as well. She would now have more time and energy to prepare for her opponents in the next round. Though as the draw gets deeper, it gets tougher. So can the Spaniard find a way to push herself to glory on both courts?
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Manan Mehta
(215 Articles Published)