By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday September 6, 2024
New York – No wedding. But instead a Grand Slam title.
of Ukraine Lyudmila Kichenok was supposed to marry fiancee Stas Kumarsky on Wednesday but instead postponed the ceremony to finish her run at the US Open doubles title with Jelena Ostapenko.
Kichenok and Ostapenko ended their streak by beating Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday.
Women’s Grand Slam Doubles Champions, 2024:
Australian Open: Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens
Roland Garros: Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova
Wimbledon: Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova
US Open: Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmila Kichenok
Kichenok revealed her story during the post-match trophy ceremony, then elaborated in her post-match press conference.
“We decided when we got here to New York, my boyfriend Stas, he checked out where we could do it,” she said. “Because we got engaged more than a year ago. We were finding all the things where we could do that. And he found a place here (in New York) and he just booked an appointment for Wednesday.”
“It didn’t happen. But, yeah, we’ll do it sometime.”
Ostapenko and Kichenok won their first doubles title and their fifth overall title as a team. They were runners-up at the Australian Open in January.
“It’s amazing,” Ostapenko said. “The whole week was really great, and especially to play in New York. I feel like we played really well. We didn’t lose a single set during the tournament.”
“You still got bumps after we came off the court and it feels amazing the first time we win a Grand Slam,” added Kichenok, who plans to get married soon, possibly in Las Vegas or Europe.
