Lyudmyla Kichenok, Kristina Mladenovic spar about sportsmanship in Australian Open doubles spat 

A routine Australian Open doubles match has become anything but this week after a handshake snub sparked a war of words between two of the competitors.

On Monday in Melbourne, No. 9 seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai sealed a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over No. 5 seeds Chan Hao-ching and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the third roound. But after Mladenovic and Zhang sealed the otherwise ordinary win from 4-0 down in the first set, an extraordinary exchange took place at the net:

As Chan and Zhang hugged, Kichenok could been seen snubbing Mladenovic for the customary handshake, as the latter awkwardly waited with her hand extended. The Ukrainian shook hands briefly with Zhang before leaving the court.

While it was unclear at the time what caused the dust-up, Mladenovic was quick to address her view of what happened in her and Zhang's on-court interview—and she placed blame squarely on the beaten team.

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"If you want my real honest opinion, I think the opponents woke me up because they were showing un-sportsmanship [sic] during my serve and I got really mad. I was like ‘OK, this is how the match is starting,'" Mladenovic told John Cain Arena.

“It woke me up and I was very composed with my partner and we fought together to find a solution. That was a trigger point for me and it woke me up."

Mladenovic and Zhang were beaten Wednesday in the quarterfinals by No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, but Kichenok wasn't about to let the incident rest. A day later, she took to social media to air her side of the story, responding to Mladenovic's accusation with one of her own.

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"I would like to clarify the situation that has happened in my third-round Australian Open match against Kristina Mladenovic. Publicly accused of bad sportsmanship, I would like to say my word," Kichenok wrote on Instagram.

The 32-year-old, who won the US Open last summer with Jelena Ostapenko over Mladenovic and Zhang before the pair split ahead of the 2025 season, accused Mladenovic of issuing a "direct threat" to her after she "unintentionally" hit her with a ball during a rally.

"The response to my numerous apologies was, 'You watch out next time,'" Kichenok claimed. "I don't consider appropriate the act of respect like shake of hands in the end of the match with people who use verbal threats. Period."

It's safe to say that the next meeting between these two this year will be must-see TV.