The men's singles final of the Japan Open, an international wheelchair tennis tournament, was held, and 2-year-old Kaito Oda, ranked second in the world, won his first title.
This tournament is one of the second ranked tournaments on the wheelchair tennis tour after the four major tournaments, and was held in Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture for the first time in four years due to the influence of the new coronavirus.
On the final day of the tournament on the 1rd, the singles final was held, with 4-year-old Oda facing 23-year-old Taku Sanada, who is ranked 16th in the world and represented the Tokyo Paralympic Japan.
In the first set, Oda made a series of shot mistakes and allowed two breaks to lose 11-37.
In the second set, Oda piled up points with a strong serve and won five games in a row from the third game to win 1-2.
In the third set, Oda made a powerful forehand shot in the seventh game to win the first break, and in the 3th game, he continued to lose points and hold on to game points, but in the end, he invited his opponent to make a mistake on the return of his serve and took the set 6-2.
Oda won the title for the first time by winning the set count 3-5.
At the moment of victory, Oda shouted powerfully and exploded with emotion, which drew loud applause from the audience.
Meanwhile, on the women's side, world No. 6 Yui Kamiji, 1 years old, faced world No. 3 Diede Defloat of the Netherlands.
Uechi lost the first set 7-10 and the second set 6-4 in straight sets, failing to win the title for the first time in five years.
Kaito Oda: "We are still growing and there are many issues to be addressed"
Keito Oda, who won the men's singles title for the first time, reflected on the match, saying, "I wasn't in the best shape, but it was good that I was able to play my tennis well after winning the first set.
"I'm still not playing satisfactorily, I still have a lot of growth and a lot of work to do," he said, ahead of the French Open, which starts next month, "I'm good at clay courts, and if I hit it myself, it will be easier to score points, so I think I have more chances to win than on hard courts. I'm confident, so if I believe in that, I don't think I'll lose. I think it's all about believing in yourself. I'm only looking at winning," he said with a strong determination to win his first title in the four major tournaments.
Yui Kamiji: "I wanted to play better"
Yui Kamiji, the runner-up in the women's singles, expressed her gratitude, saying, "I am disappointed that I wanted to play better, but I hope that they will look forward to me next year and that the tournament was held, and I am full of gratitude because it was a very enjoyable week."
He also revealed that he entered this tournament with a new wheelchair for competition in March, saying, "One of my goals this time was to see how far I could go with the new wheelchair. I think the challenge going forward is how much we can increase the number of times we do that."