Melbourne, Jan 26 – Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia won two consecutive come-from-behind sets at the Australian Open to reach their first Grand Slam women’s doubles final on Friday.
No.11 seeds Kichenok and Ostapenko upset No.4 seeds and reigning US Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-5, 7-5 in their semifinal showdown at Margaret Court Arena.
Notably, both Kichenok and Ostapenko have won Grand Slam titles in other disciplines. Ostapenko famously stormed to the 2017 Roland Garros singles title as an unseeded player, while Kichenok won the mixed doubles title with Mate Pavic at Wimbledon last year, according to WTA.
Kichenok and Ostapenko will now take on No.2 seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens in the final.
Mertens is going for her second Australian Open women’s doubles title (she teamed with Aryna Sabalenka to triumph in 2021), while Hsieh has already won mixed doubles title alongside Jan Zielinski earlier in the day.
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