Puerto Cabello P2, day 5: Chingotto-Galan on the way of Coello-Tapia. Brea-Gonzalez versus Salazar-Icardo for the women’s title

On one side Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, in their fourth final in four tournaments in 2024. On the other, Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan, in their first week as a pair. They will be the number 1 and number 3 on the draw to play for the title in the P2 in Puerto Cabello (Venezuela), the first tournament in the new category introduced by FIP and Premier Padel for the season that marked the creation of a single professional circuit. The continuity of Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia was impressive: in the first semi-final, the Spaniard and the Argentine defeated Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz (7) 6-7 6-2 6-0. The first to gain the break were Nieto/Sanz in the seventh game of the first set: a break, however, immediately recovered by the number 1 seeded players, who had to deal with an extraordinary first set played by Coki and Jon. After winning the tiebreak, however, Nieto and Sanz dropped physically: the break that brought Coello and Tapia to 3-2 in the second set was the first of ten consecutive games for the winners of the Ooredoo Qatar Major and the GNP Mexico P1, and tonight they will be able to go in the hunt for their third title in a row. Trying to avoid Coello and Tapia’s hattrick will be Fede Chingotto (in his first final of the season) and Ale Galan, who is already on his third, after the two with Juan Lebron, both against Coello/Tapia. Nothing to do for Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, defeated (6-4 6-3) for the fourth time in a row in the semifinals. Very high level right from the first points, with the first break coming in the decisive tenth game to win the first set for Chingotto and Galan. The second, also decisive, at the end of a hard-fought eighth game of the second set.

WOMEN If in the men’s draw Coello and Tapia will be chasing their third title of the season, in the women’s draw there will certainly be a new pair to write their name in the roll of honour. After the two titles of Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez (Riyadh and Doha) and that of Jessica Castelló and Claudia Jensen in Acapulco, it will be time for Brea/Gonzalez or Salazar/Icardo. In the first of the two semifinals, the number 1 seed won a very tight match against Virginia Riera and Sofia Araujo (5), which ended 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes: It will be the second final for Brea/Gonzalez in 2024 (the first was in Riyadh), the first one for Salazar/Icardo, as Triay/Fernandez withdrew when the score was 4-3 in the first set.

On Sunday, schedule will start at 5 p.m. Venezuelan time, 11 p.m. CET, with the women’s final. This will be followed by the match that will award the men’s title.