Kichenok and Pavic, both 30 years old and seeded eighth, defeated Joran Vliegen of Belgium and Xu Yifan of China by scores of 6-4, 6-7(9), and 6-3.
The mixed doubles match was won by Lyudmyla Kichenok and Mate Pavic of Croatia, giving their war-torn nation another reason to celebrate after Elina Svitolina’s unsuccessful attempt to win the Wimbledon singles on Thursday.
To thunderous applause from the Centre Court crowd, Kichenok stated, “I try to encourage the people in Ukraine and I hope this helps a little since they are fighting for their freedom. Pavic, a 30-year-old former world number one in doubles, joins the Wimbledon mixed doubles crowns to his collection of five Grand Slam doubles victories, including three for men and two for women.”
In the women’s semi-finals earlier on Thursday, Svitolina, a wildcard, lost to Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3. As steady as five-time champion Carlos Alcaraz has proved this year on the circuit, Daniil Medvedev, who Alcaraz will face on Friday, is one match ahead of him in the ATP list of most victories.
That’s a fantastic result for the self-described hard-court specialist from the first six-month period of the circuit, which was split unevenly between hard, clay, and grass courts.
That is notably asserted by Medvedev’s Wimbledon semi-final appearance, which he achieved by overcoming a challenging Christopher Eubanks barrier and a mid-match hiccup in a five-set quarterfinal victory.
In his four All England Club outings, the 2021 US Open winner had never advanced past the fourth round. The Russian entered this Wimbledon after losing in the first round of the first two grass-court competitions after being banned from competing the previous year. These types of sports are quite challenging in quarter-final matches but our players are ready to win it.