Ukrainian Tennis Player Becomes Wimbledon Champion
Ukrainian tennis player Lyudmyla Kichenok, along with Croatia's Mate Pavic, has won the Wimbledon mixed doubles tournament. The results of the match, which took place on Thursday, July 13, were announced on the Wimbledon Twitter page.
It was reported that the Ukrainian-Croatian pair competed against Joran Vliegen from Belgium and Yang Zhaoxuan from China.
In the first set, the duo with Kichenok managed to break their opponents' serve, allowing them to finish the set with a score of 6-4.
In the second set, Vliegen and Yang won with a score of 7-6.
In the decisive third set, Kichenok and Pavic made fewer mistakes than their opponents and won the match with a score of 6-3.
Lyudmyla Kichenok and Mate Pavic are now the champions of Wimbledon in mixed doubles.
The match lasted for 2 hours and 10 minutes. During this time, the Ukrainian-Croatian duo played nine innings, made six double faults, and converted two out of four break points.
Kichenok and Pavic regrouped in the final set to claim the champions' trophy under the closed roof of the Centre Court.
This is the first Grand Slam title for the 30-year-old Ukrainian Kichenok, a former top-10 player in women's doubles. She currently ranks 15th in the world rankings. It was also her first Grand Slam final in her career.
Former ATP world number one in men's doubles, 30-year-old Pavic, now has three Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles to go along with his three men's doubles titles. His previous mixed doubles titles were achieved at the 2016 US Open with Laura Siegemund and the 2018 Australian Open with Gabriela Dabrowski.
"Being the Wimbledon champion in mixed doubles is incredible," Kichenok said at her post-match press conference.
"I really enjoyed playing with Mate. He's a great player... These last ten days have been an amazing time for me. We both worked hard on our game every day. We both try to play aggressively. It works particularly well on grass. That's the key. It worked for us in this tournament."
It should be noted that Ukraine will be part of a joint bid by Portugal and Spain to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.