Mar del Plata Premier Padel P1, day 3. Eternal Belasteguin: three-hour marathon and a place in the round of 16

Un Belasteguin nunca se rinde. Literally, a Belasteguin never gives up. And he doesn’t even do so at the age of 45, in what could have been his last professional match in his native Argentina. But ‘Bela’ wanted to treat himself to at least one more, and so in three hours and 11 minutes paired with Juan Tello he won a place in the round of 16 of the Mar del Plata Premier Padel P1. It was an epic match against José Diestro and Pablo Lijó, in which the number five seed in the men’s draw had won the first set on tiebreak, before losing a hard-fought second set 6-4 but having the strength to bounce back and earn the challenge against Javier Barahona and Teo Zapata, who had defeated Lucho Capra and Alex Chozas on Tuesday. “If we had lost, I would have left with the peace of mind of having run three hours as I have done for the last 30 years – said Belasteguin, acclaimed by the Mar del Plata crowd –. The last four months were the worst: my elbow and calf were not healing. But I didn’t want to miss the tournament in Mar del Plata”.

MEN The one between Belasteguin/Tello and Diestro/Lijó was the best match of a third day in which the top pairs in the men’s draw got through their first match. Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, coming from their success in Asunción, gave up four games (6-1 6-3) to Gutierrez/Ruiz, as did Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan (6-2 6-2) to Rodriguez/Santigosa. The Argentinian derby between generations was won by Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno (4) against Tino Libaak and Leo Augsburger with a score of 6-3 6-4. Both Paquito Navarro and Juan Lebron (3) and Mike Yanguas and Javi Garrido (6) finally needed three sets to reach the round of 16, beating Cepero/Benitez 4-6 7-6 6-2 and Hernandez Alvarez/Valenzuela 5-7 6-2 6-4 respectively.

WOMEN The women’s draw also lined up in the round of 16: Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez’s winning streak was extended to 17, thanks to a 6-2 7-5 win in one hour and 47 minutes over Raquel Eugenio and Martina Fassio, but the other favourite pairs for the title also won. Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez overcame Noa Canovas and Jimena Velasco 6-0 6-1, the same result for Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez against qualifiers Monica Gomes and Manuela Schuck. Today the tournament gets into full swing with the round of 16: play on three courts, starting at 9 a.m. local time, 2 p.m. CET.