Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko & Lyudmyla Kichenok from Ukraine, the No 7 seeds, won the women’s doubles title at the US Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over the Chinese-French pair of Zhang Shaui & Kristina Mladenovic on Friday.
I just came to Jelena after the first or second point and told her, ‘Just remember, you are Jelena Ostapenko, you are the best. You have to win it’. I still have goosebumps after match point. It feels amazing. I’m blessed to have such partner by my side on the court. Thanks for carrying me these two weeks.
Lyudmyla Kichenok
The win marked the first Grand Slam doubles title for former French Open singles champion Ostapenko & Kichenok, who also reached the final together at this year’s Australian Open.
“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.”
They did so well that Kichenok, who is engaged to Ostapenko’s coach Stas Kumarsky, had to postpone their wedding arranged for the second week of the US Open.
“We had an appointment to get married this Wednesday, but I had the semi-finals,” Kichenok told Mary Joe Fernandez during the trophy ceremony. “When we got here to New York, my boyfriend Stas, he checked where we can do it, because we got engaged, like, more than a year ago.
“We were figuring out all the things, where we can do that. He found a spot here, and he just booked an appointment for Wednesday. Just this procedure when you sign the papers, just to do that, but I had to play semi-finals on Wednesday, and I said, ‘OK, maybe next time. But we’re going to do it somewhere, somehow’.”
Jeļena Ostapenko (L) & Lyudmyla Kichenok got off to a flying start and were pegged back by Kristina Mladenovic & Zhang Shuai, but went on to win the doubles title in straight sets
© Al Bello/Getty Images
Ostapenko & Kichenok made a red-hot start on Thursday, the Ukrainian’s forehand approach and cut-away volley enabling the Latvian to unleash an inside-out forehand winner over her ducking partner as the highlight for a 3-0 break lead.
Mladenovic & Zhang weathered that early storm, and quick-fire volleys and angles helped them turn the tables, and the unseeded pair managed to draw level at 4-4 with half-an-hour on the clock.
That momentum gained serious pace when Mladenovic & Zhang flipped defence into attack for a break point, but Ostapenko’s searing serve and Kichenok’s shot selection ultimately staved off 5 break chances in a monster 13-minute hold for the Latvian.
Serving to stay in the set, Mladenovic & Zhang held a game point, but then capitulated after Zhang double-faulted on set point.
They looked primed for a come-back after building a 3-1 lead in the second, but Kichenok & Ostapenko kept the pressure on to win the last 5 games of the match, the Latvian shrugging off any pressure as she served out the win.
“I just came to Jelena after the first or second point and told her, ‘Just remember, you are Jelena Ostapenko, you are the best. You have to win it’,” Kichenok said. “I still have goosebumps after match point. It feels amazing.
“I’m blessed to have such partner by my side on the court. Thanks for carrying me these two weeks.”
Doubles champions Jelena Ostapenko & Lyudmyla Kichenok pose with runners-up Zhang Shuai & Kristina Mladenovic after the presentation ceremony in Arthur Ashe Stadium
© Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images
Kichenok now has 2 Grand Slam titles after winning her first at the Wimbledon mixed doubles event in 2023, while it was the 5th title for Ostapenko, who won the French Open singles in 2017.
Ostapenko & Kichenok began the season with a loss in the Australian Open final, but here, at Flushing Meadows, they didn’t drop a set, and take home $750,000.
On Thursday, Kichenok 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 6 Grand Slam doubles titles, but fell to 0-3 in the US Open final.
“But I still like the place. It’s OK,” she joked afterwards, sharing $375,000 in prize money with Zhang, who was looking for her 2nd 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.”
As for her wedding, Kichenok only knew that it would now be ‘somewhere, somehow’.
“No plan yet,” she said. “Maybe Las Vegas or in Europe somewhere.”
