A poetic ending, in this sector, to the whole saga, although it isn't over yet. With courage, determination, and hard work, M. Kato/Puetz kept it competitive against Bianca/M. Venus, and reaped their results at the end thanks to their consistency.
While both teams scored 3 aces, interestingly, Bianca/M. Venus nailed their service games more in one way or another. M. Kato/Puetz might have landed 75% of their first serves, but Bianca/M. Venus won 7% more of their points from there. On the other hand, M. Kato/Puetz's second serves were the most vulnerable by only winning 47% of their points from there, hence their reliance on their return games and some finishing to top it off.
Somehow, even though Bianca/M. Venus created 10 opportunities to break, M. Kato/Puetz's volleys carried it from the second set, strengthening their point construction even if they lost the moment at the first set. They then took control of the match tie-break by pressing Bianca/M. Venus' second serves, the latter ultimately double-faulting for the former to dominate the flow (sometimes from the baseline), hence they won title because of the latter pair's shot rushes to close.
While this marked Puetz/M. Kato's first mixed doubles title together, Puetz laid out a closing statement in the press conference saying his gratitude to every party that made their run possible, including the tournament committee after the incident in Women's Doubles, taking into account what actually happened. On the other hand, M. Kato dedicated the title to her Women's Doubles partner, Aldila Sutjiadi, as well as reiterated her appeal plan in her ceremonial speech. Truly breathtaking.
The match tie-break was close in the first few points. Initially, Puetz's cross-court forehand could have made a difference to 3-2 before M. Venus came up with a closing volley to equalize it.
However, after a working service game for M. Kato/Puetz, M. Venus double-faulted, and it all went downhill from there until the former pair came up with a match point. Having some of them fumbled on return (one of which as a result of M. Kato's forehand error), M. Venus' rushed forehand on serve resulted in M. Kato/Puetz's match point conversion, taking that match tie-break 10-6 and winning them the title this year.