Wimbledon 2023 mixed doubles final: Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Croatia’s Mate Pavic win title

Lyudmyla Kichenok said she hopes her performance “helps the people in Ukraine” after she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title alongside Mate Pavic of Croatia.

The seventh seeds beat Joran Vliegen of Belgium and China’s Xu Yifan 6-4 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 on Centre Court.

“They are fighting for their freedom,” Kichenok said of the Ukrainian people.

“I try to encourage the people in Ukraine with my performance, I hope it is going to help them a little bit.”

Her comments were met by loud cheers and a lengthy applause by supporters on Centre Court.

There has been war in Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Kichenok’s victory alongside Pavic came after her compatriot Elina Svitolina lost in the women’s singles semi-final to Marketa Vondrousova.

Kichenok and Pavic, who were playing at Wimbledon together for the first time since 2017, broke Xu’s serve on their way to the opening set.

The pair were unable to convert a championship point in a second-set tie-break, with their unseeded opponents instead levelling the final at one set all after converting a fourth set point.

Xu was then broken again in the third set before Pavic successfully served for the match.

Sisters Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko won the Australian Open women’s doubles together in 2008, Ukraine’s only other victory at a major.

Six-time Grand Slam champion Pavic, who was victorious in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2021, has now won a men’s and mixed doubles title at every major bar the French Open.

“We played in 2017 for the first time together at Wimbledon and we never played together again until our physio brought us back together [this year],” added Pavic.

“It’s always a special story with Wimbledon, I enjoyed it for these two weeks.”