Day 4: Spain-Argentina, from opponents in Doha to partners in the semifinals

Martin Di Nenno and Juan Lebron, like Coello and Tapia, like Chingotto and Galan, like Stupaczuk and Yanguas, a week ago in Doha were opponents in the final of the FIP World Padel Championships. A week later, in the Premier Padel Dubai P1, the big stars are back as teammates, and on Saturday they will be the protagonists of the most eagerly awaited semifinals, the ones that will face the tournament’s top four seeds against each other. Di Nenno and Lebron were the ones who had to suffer the most, but their 7-6 1-6 6-4 win over Momo Gonzalez and Edu Alonso is worth a place in the semifinals against number 1 seeded Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, ahead 6-1 6-4 over Josete Rico and Agustin Gutierrez. At the bottom half, however, Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan had to struggle (at least for one set) as in the round of 16 to get the better of Alex Arroyo and Alex Ruiz (9): it ended 7-6 6-2 in one hour and 26 minutes, with the ‘Chingalan’ who will face Stupaczuk and Yanguas (4), champions in Newgiza and victorious 7-6 6-3 over Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz (6).

WOMEN If the men’s semifinals will start not before 5 p.m. in Dubai (2 p.m. CET), at 3 p.m. local time (12 p.m. CET) it will be time for women’s semifinals. Three of the top four seeded pairs are there: Ale Alonso and Andrea Ustero, on the other hand, eliminated Marta Ortega and Sofia Araujo (4) 7-6 6-4 in two hours and 1’, qualifying for a semi-final that will see the young talent face another rising star, Claudia Fernandez, who paired with Gemma Triay (2) gave up just four games (6-3 6-1) to Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno. The semifinals at the top of the draw will instead follow the entry list: on one side Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, ahead 6-0 6-3 to Tamara Icardo and Claudia Jensen, and on the other Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez (3), who needed only 54 minutes to overcome Aranzazu Osoro and Veronica Virseda 6-0 6-2.