Lyudmyla Viktorivna Kichenok (Ukrainian: Людмила Вікторівна Кіченок; born 20 July 1992) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 21 July 2014, Lyudmyla reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 156. On 12 September 2022, she peaked at No. 9 in the doubles rankings. Kichenok has won eight doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including four with her twin sister Nadiia.
Career
2015: First WTA doubles title and singles top-10 win
In 2015, she won her first WTA doubles title together with her sister. They escaped a 5–0 deficit in the second set tie-break of their 6–4, 7–6 defeat of Liang Chen and Wang Yafan in the Shenzhen Open final. That made the Kichenoks the second pair of twins, after Karolína Plíšková and Kristýna Plíšková, to win a WTA doubles title. They previously had been runners-up at Tashkent in 2011 and Shenzhen in 2014.[1] She won the second WTA doubles title at Brasil Tennis Cup.
During the Tianjin Open, Lyudmyla caused the biggest upset of the tournament with a top-10 win, over world No. 8 and reigning US Open champion, Flavia Pennetta, in the first round for the biggest win of her career so far.[2]
2022: Two major semifinals, WTA 1000 title, top 10 & WTA Finals debut
At the French Open, she reached the semifinals of a major for the first time in her career partnering again with Ostapenko, falling to the eventual champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.[4] She reached the top 20 in doubles on 6 June 2022.
The following week, she won her sixth title at Birmingham with Ostapenko. At the Wimbledon Championships, she again reached the semifinals with Ostapenko, again falling to the eventual champions Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková.
At the Cincinnati Open, she reached the final with Ostapenko defeating Australian Open finalists Haddad Maia and Anna Danilina and top seeds Kudermetova and Mertens. The pair won their biggest title defeating Nicole Melichar and Ellen Perez.[5] Kichenok reached a new career-high in doubles of No. 10 on 22 August 2022.
She qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals with Jelena Ostapenko where they reached the semifinals.[7]
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.