On Friday, No. 7 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko will face off against the unseeded team of Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic in Arthur Ashe Stadium in hopes of winning the women’s doubles title at the 2024 US Open—something only one of the four players (Zhang) has already accomplished.
The teams had very different experiences during their semifinal matches in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Wednesday.
Kichenok and Ostapenko sailed through a straight-sets win over No. 10 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Veronika Kudermetova, 6-1, 6-2, in just 65 minutes, while Mladenovic and Zhang spent nearly double the time on court to defeat No. 3 seeds and 2024 Wimbledon champions Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Kichenok and Ostapenko dominated their match from the start, winning the first five games and breaking their opponents twice to jump to an early 5-0 lead, taking the first set in 26 minutes. While Chan and Kudermetova managed to convert on one of their four break point opportunities against the No. 7 seeds, it wasn’t enough to slow down the Ukrainian-Latvian duo, who won 70% of their first-serve points and fired off 23 winners compared to Chan and Kudermetova’s 46% and 13.
The team of Zhang and Mladenovic had a more tedious time on court, exchanging deep lobs and perfectly-angled volleys along with service holds until they broke Townsend and Siniakova at love in the final game of the first set. They trailed 4-0 in the second, but managed to put pressure on their opponents to play six more games in the frame, although the American-Czech team took the set, 6-4.
The more consistent team triumphed, as Zhang and Mladenovic won more points on their first serves and capitalized on five of the seven break point opportunities they had.
The unseeded pair owns a combined 11 Grand Slam doubles titles, with two women’s titles for Zhang (Australian Open 2019, US Open 2021) and nine total for Mladenovic (six in women’s doubles, three in mixed). Mladenovic became the world No. 1 doubles player in June 2019, and Zhang reached a career high of No. 2 in 2022. However, both players are currently ranked outside of the doubles Top 40, resulting in their unseeded status and a tough draw that kicked off with a first-round matchup against No. 2 seeds and 2024 Australian Open champions Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei, which Zhang and Mladenovic won in straight sets.
The finalists have never gone head-to-head, and it’s sure to be an explosive match. Kichenok and Ostapenko are hungry for more. This year, they won titles at Brisbane and Eastbourne, made the final at Charleston and reached the quarterfinals at four WTA 1000 events in addition to Wimbledon, where they were ousted by the eventual champions.
But while Kichenok and Ostapenko may have been originally relieved they wouldn’t have to face Hsieh and Mertens—the team that denied them the Australian Open title in January—Zhang and Mladenovic are a truly dynamic duo. It seems like they've played together forever, but the US Open is only the fourth tournament they've played together, and the second this year after making quarterfinal run in Toronto.
“People forget you quite fast,” Mladenovic said on-court after their semifinal win. “We found each other, we trust each other’s qualities as a tennis player and I think we proved throughout the whole tournament [we have] the skills.
“It was a tough couple years and to reach another Grand Slam final is just unbelievable, no words really to describe it, and to do it with Shuai means a lot. We played against each other many times and I’m so proud to have her on my side this time… We’re just enjoying what we’re doing and we’re very grateful for this opportunity.”
