Afternoon session – Santigosa and Gala light up Krakow

Thirty-six years in two and a common goal: the gold medal. Daniel Santigosa, born in 2004, and David Gala, two years younger, are two of the best talents on court at the European Games in Krakow. In the men’s draw, Santigosa and Gala are the second seed and made their debut defeating Lithuania’s Skirmantas Macinskas and Nojus Poska (6-3 7-5). They now await Germany’s Johannes Lindmeyer and Matthias Wunner in the round of 16. Tomorrow, however, it will be the turn of the first seed, the Spanish pair of Alonso Rodriguez and Pablo Garcia, against Bulgarians Dimitrov and Mladenov.

Frenchmen Thomas Leygue and Jeremy Scatena, the number 3 seed, fell instead, defeated 7-6 4-6 6-3 by the Swedish Anton Andersson and Albin Olsson, giants of over two metres tall. Speaking of giants, there was great curiosity about the debut of Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, a 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist in tennis: paired with Marcin Maszczyk, he gave up just four games (6-2 6-2) to Monegasque Chavanis and Fedoroff. In the afternoon session, Noa Canovas and Araceli Maria Martinez, the second seed in the women’s draw, got off to a good start, 6-3 6-4 to Frenchwomen Charlotte Soubrie and Carla Touly. Already in the round of 16, however, the number one favourites, Marta Barrera and Marta Caparros.