Barcelona kicks off with a show: Top seeds move on, what a comeback by Salazar-Castelló

The first day of the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Finals was full of excitement at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. The pairs with the most tournament wins in 2024 made a strong start, securing their spots in Saturday’s semifinals. In the last match of the day, Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia extended their winning streak to 46 matches, beating Pablo Cardona and Paquito Navarro 7-6 6-2. After an exciting first set, where Cardona and Paquito came back from 0-3 down to force a tiebreak, the top seeds finished strong, wrapping it up in 1 hour and 19 minutes. In the semifinals, Coello and Tapia will face Martin Di Nenno and Juan Lebron, who won 6-4 6-3 against Javi Garrido and Lucas Bergamini. Bergamini was the last player to qualify for the Finals.

WOMEN The women’s tournament saw the only upset of the day. After a hard-fought two-and-a-half-hour match, Ale Salazar and Jessica Castelló made an amazing comeback (3-6 6-4 6-2) to beat the fourth seeds Marta Ortega and Sofia Araujo. Despite a strong start from Ortega and Araujo, the comeback from Salazar and Castelló was too much. In the third set, a double break early on sealed the win. On Saturday, Ale and Jess will face the world’s top-ranked pair, Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who defeated Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno 6-3 7-5.

FRIDAY Friday will see the remaining eight pairs in action. The schedule starts at 2 PM CET with Delfi Brea and Veronica Virseda (the only duo who didn’t team up during the season) facing Ale Alonso and Andrea Ustero, with Ustero playing at home in Barcelona. After that, Franco Stupaczuk and Mike Yanguas will take on Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz. Not before 5 PM CET, the second-seeded pairs will hit the court: first Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez against Claudia Jensen and Tamara Icardo, followed by Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan against Momo Gonzalez and Edu Alonso.