Melbourne doubles feud as Kichenok accuses Mladenovic of ‘direct threat’

MELBOURNE: Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok accused France’s Kristina Mladenovic Thursday of making a “very direct threat” against her during a testy women’s doubles clash at the Australian Open.

Kichenok came under fire after snubbing a handshake with Mladenovic after she and Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching were beaten in straight sets on Monday.

The Ukrainian did shake hands with Mladenovic’s partner, China’s Zhang Shuai, before leaving the court.

After the match, Mladenovic claimed there was unsportsmanlike behaviour going on.

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“If you want my real honest opinion, I think the opposition team woke me up because they were showing a little bit of unsportsmanship during my serve,” she said. “I got really mad.”

Kichenok fired back on Thursday in a statement on social media.

“I would like to clarify the situation that has happened in my 3rd round AO match against Kristina Mladenovic,” she wrote on social media.

“Publicly accused of bad sportsmanship. I would like to say my word.“I received very direct threat from my opponent during the match after unintentionally hitting her with a tennis ball.“The response to my numerous apologies was ‘you watch out next time’.“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.”

Mladenovic and Zhang were beaten in the fourth round by top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.