Malaga Premier Padel P1, day 5. Now the Superpibes, Paquito, and Lebron need a feat

For the fourth Premier Padel tournament in the last five, after the P1 in Santiago, the Major in Rome and the P2 in Genova, the semifinalist pairs in the men’s draw will be the top four seeds. Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan, Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, and Paquito Navarro and Juan Lebron. The Malaga Premier Padel P1 will be the last dance of the Superpibes, but also of Paquito and ‘Lobo’, and both ‘parejas’ want to close in the best possible way. To do so, however, they are called to go ahead the Saturday’s matches: to prevent the final from being yet another chapter in the duel between Coello/Tapia and Chingotto/Galan. Above all, Paquito and Lebron, in the last weeks, are bringing out their best: in the quarters they won the battle against Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz (8), finishing 6-3 3-6 6-4 in two hours and 5 minutes and, between them and the first and only final as a pair, there will be the number 1 on the draw, who yesterday gave up only four games (6-3 6-1) to Fernando Belasteguin and Juan Tello (6). Stupaczuk and Di Nenno, on the other hand, have played a final this season, and in the same region that hosts the Malaga Premier Padel P1, Andalucia: they overcame Navarro and Lebron in the semifinals in Sevilla, before losing against Chingotto and Galan, the same opponents as tomorrow, who in the quarters beat 6-3 6-2 Javi Ruiz and Pablo Cardona (13), while the Superpibes won 6-1 6-2 over Momo Gonzalez and Alex Ruiz (7), the latter nevertheless cheered by the home crowd.

WOMEN In the women’s draw, on the other hand, compared to the P2 in Genova, there will be a different pair raising the trophy. Marta Ortega and Sofia Araujo, seeded number 4 and champions in Italy, were defeated 6-4 6-2 by Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno (6), who are continuing their great moment of form by reaching their fourth semifinal in the last five tournaments. Tomorrow, however, in the match that will open the schedule at 12 noon, they will have to face world number 1 Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who beat 6-2 6-3 Jessica Castelló and Claudia Jensen (5) in the quarters. The other semifinal, the one in the bottom half of the draw, will not be played due to the withdrawal of Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez due to an injury of the ‘malagueña’: the number 2 seed had however beaten Aranzazu Osoro and Marta Marrero 6-2 2-6 6-4. Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez (3), who after two consecutive 6-0 6-0 lost their first games but only gave up four to Virginia Riera and Carmen Goenaga (8), therefore advance to the final.

Of the two courts at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena, only one will remain tomorrow, and all fans’ eyes will be on the centre court.