Lyudmyla Kichenok was supposed to get married this week to Jelena Ostapenko‘s coach. A run to the US Open women’s doubles championship forced a change of plans.
Kichenok and Ostapenko won the title Friday for their first major as a team, beating Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.
Kichenok said she and Stanislav Khmarskiy were supposed to get married Wednesday, the day she and Ostapenko won their US Open semifinal match.
“It’s a good excuse to postpone it a bit,” Ostapenko said during the trophy ceremony.
The No. 7 seeds began the season with a loss in the Australian Open final but were too good in Flushing Meadows, where they didn’t drop a set and won $750,000.
“We are a really great team, and I think it was just an amazing two weeks,” Ostapenko said during the on-court trophy presentation. “We didn’t expect anything. We were just playing better and better every match. We didn’t lose one set, so it was a really good tournament.”
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It was the fifth title together overall for Ostapenko, a Latvian who won the 2017 French Open in singles, and Kichenok, who dedicated the victory to her home country of Ukraine.
“They are fighting really hard for our freedom right now, and I just hope I can give them some encouragement,” Kichenok said, “and my heart is with them.”
Mladenovic has won six Grand Slam doubles titles but fell to 0-3 in US Open finals. Zhang was looking for her second trophy in New York, having teamed with Sam Stosur for the 2021 title.
“For me the biggest motivation is I wanted to put our name on this trophy,” Zhang said. “But we will fight next time.”
Ostapenko and Kichenok broke in the second game for an early advantage and, after Mladenovic and Zhang got the set back on serve, had a massive hold in an eight-deuce game during which they fought off five break points for a 5-4 lead. Zhang ultimately gifted the next game with a double fault on the second set point.
In the second set, Zhang and Mladenovic broke early for a 2-0 lead, but Ostapenko and Kichenok broke Zhang to reach 3-3 and broke Mladenovic at love to reach 5-3. Mladenovic and Zhang fought off three match points — the last when a video review confirmed that Kichenok had hit the ball twice on an attempted volley — before the champions wrapped it up on their next chance.
“I still have goosebumps after match point. It feels amazing,” said Kichenok, who now has two Grand Slam titles after winning the Wimbledon mixed doubles event in 2023. “I’m blessed to have such partner by my side on the court. Thanks for carrying me these two weeks.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
