Riyadh Season P1, day 2: Navarro and Belasteguin already defeated

First stars on the court in the men’s draw at the Riyadh Season P1 and first surprises of the Premier Padel 2024. The feat of the day was achieved this morning by Javi Rico and Juanlu Esbri, number 28 and 56 in the unified FIP ranking from this year, who defeated in three sets (6-2 1-6 6-3) Paquito Navarro and Sanyo Gutierrez (4), who thus began their ‘reunion’ season with a defeat (they had already played together in 2016 and 2017). But the season also got off to a bad start for the legend Fernando Belasteguin who, paired with Luciano Capra, lost 4-6 6-1 6-4 against the Italian-Argentinians Aris Patiniotis and Facundo Dominguez. With the number 4 and 6 seeds out, the other big names were ahead, starting with Juan Lebron and Ale Galan (1), who debuted in the evening with a 7-6 6-1 win over Daniel Windahl and José Solano Marmolejo. Also doing well in front of a special fan like Neymar were Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia (2) who, after winning four out of six Premier in 2023, suffered a set against Ruiz/Cardona before closing 7-6 6-1. Good first for Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, 6-4 6-3 to Ayats/Guerrero. Finally, among the ‘top seeds’, Chingotto/Gonzalez (5) were ok, double 6-2 to Sans/Gala Sanchez.

WOMEN In the women’s draw, the first round ended. Among the favourite pairs, the one that had the most problems was the one formed by Marta Ortega and Gemma Triay, who began their last week together (in Doha they will play with other teammates) by overcoming but only in three sets Melania Marino Saez and Sofia Saiz Vallejo. Losing the first in the tiebreak, Triay/Ortega (3) took the match back into their hands, closing 6-7 6-3 6-0. Delfina Brea and Bea Gonzalez (2) fared better, giving up only two games (6-1 6-1) to qualifiers Castillo Velarde/Peralta Exposito in the first match of the day on court 1. In the afternoon, finally, good job also for world number 1 Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria: some problems in the first set before closing 7-5 6-1 against Rodriguez-Talavan.

Tomorrow the tournament gets into full swing with the round of 16: play on all four courts at the Padel Rush in Riyadh, starting at 3 pm Saudi time, 1 pm in Central Europe. Four matches on each court: on the Central, Brea/Gonzalez versus Soriano/Mesa will open.