Doubles Semifinal
○ Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) / Taylor Townsend (USA)  7-5, 6-4  ● Makoto Ninomiya (JPN) / Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)

■They faced a formidable pair: Townsend, who claimed the world No.1 doubles ranking for the first time this July, and Mladenovic, a former world No.1 in 2019, currently ranked 63rd. Ninomiya and Kichenok fought hard, but were narrowly edged out in both sets. In the second set, they fought back from 1-5 to 4-5, but ultimately fell just short.

■Ninomiya's Comment:
"I'm not very good against left-handers, so I struggled with Townsend’s serves," Ninomiya said. Townsend held all of her service games and dropped only one point on serve in the second set — a dominant performance. Reflecting on their comeback attempt in the second set, Ninomiya said, "I guess we just let go and played freely. We talked about fighting until the end, and maybe relaxing a bit helped us find a good rhythm."

■"I really wanted to reach the final," she added and reflected -  "Since it’s a tournament in Japan, performing well here is one of my goals. We faced a strong team in the second round too, so I’m glad we won that match, but I still think we can play much better." 

(Japan Tennis Association)