Yui Kamiji of Japan returns to Diede de Groot of the Netherlands during the women's wheelchair tennis singles final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on Sept. 3, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's Yui Kamiji took silver in the women's wheelchair tennis singles at the Tokyo Paralympics on Friday, losing to Diede de Groot of the Netherlands in straight sets.

       Competing in her third Paralympics, Kamiji was defeated by the top-seeded Dutchwoman 6-3, 7-6(1) at Ariake Tennis Park and missed her bid for her maiden gold medal.

       The women's singles event has been won by a Dutch player at every games since the sport was introduced at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics.

       "I was beaten by (my opponent's) power and tactics. I want to give myself credit for playing aggressively with the mindset of not giving up until the final point," said Kamiji

       "I did what I can, but it's frustrating to finish with a silver medal."

       Kamiji, a singles bronze medalist at the Rio de Janeiro Games, had difficulty keeping up with the court movement and power of the 24-year-old Dutchwoman from the beginning of the match, held in a nearly empty venue.

       Trailing at 5-4 in the second set, the Japanese made a last-ditch effort, negotiating eight deuces to hold her serve and level the set. She then claimed a one-game lead with a service break but de Groot immediately broke back to force a tiebreak.

       In the tiebreak, she won seven straight points to wrap the game in 1 hour, 45 minutes.

       "I think for most of the match I played well. But there were also some moments that I was a little bit less aggressive but the last point seemed like I was really trying to get (the win)," said de Groot.

       In a rematch of the bronze medal game from the 2016 Games, de Groot converted eight of her 15 break points and fired 17 forehand winners to Kamiji's 14.

       "My emotions are different compared to when I got the bronze medal at the previous games," a crying Kamiji said after the victory ceremony. "But this medal is a result of me losing, so I'm frustrated."

       "I can't stop crying. I have regrets over how I played, but I think I did everything I can," she said.

       Kamiji, who has born with a condition called spina bifida, took up wheelchair tennis in 2004. She made her Paralympic debut at the 2012 London Games when she was still a high school student, and reached the quarterfinals.

       She was one of the three athletes who lit the cauldron at the Paralympic opening ceremony on Aug. 24.

       Men's No. 1 seed Shingo Kunieda will face Tom Egberink of the Netherlands in the men's singles final on Saturday in a bid to take the host country's only wheelchair tennis singles gold in Tokyo.

       They met in the men's doubles bronze medal match on Friday. Kunieda and his partner Takashi Sanada lost 6-3, 6-2 to Egberink and Maikel Scheffers.

       The men's wheelchair doubles gold medal went to the French duo of Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer after they beat Great Britain's Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid in a three-set match that lasted for over three hours.

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