Day 2. Italy, Netherlands, Egypt, France, Portugal, Paraguay: the day of first times

It will be a historic first time or six nations in the quarter-finals of Premier Padel P2 in Gijon. Never before had Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt, France, Portugal and Paraguay taken a player into the quarter-finals of the men’s draw of a Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour tournament. Italy will bring as many as three, just days after a weekend that gave four ‘Azzurri’ a win in CUPRA FIP Tour tournaments (Marco Cassetta, Enzo Jensen, Carolina Orsi and Giorgia Marchetti). At the Palacio de Deportes de la Guía ‘Presidente Adolfo Suárez’ it will be the first time for Simone Cremona (paired with Spaniard Jaume Romera), Lorenzo Di Giovanni and Simone Iacovino, with the latter forming the second seed in the draw.

Two, on the other hand, are the Dutchmen who will try to earn their dream weekend: young Thijs Roper and Menno Nolten. Roper, born in 2005, is playing with his peer Joao Maria Caiano, who has also entered Portuguese padel history after the great performance of the Deus brothers in Riyadh – a tournament that saw the finals broadcast live on Cristiano Ronaldo’s YouTube channel –; Nolten, on the other hand, with Frenchman Philemon Raichman is the tournament’s fairytale protagonist. Starting from the qualifiers, Nolten and Raichman made it to the quarter-finals. Europe, but not only: Egyptian Youssef Hossam became the first non-European or South American player to reach the quarters of a Premier Padel tournament and, speaking of records, Paraguayan Facundo Dehnike – who will turn 17 on 21 August – is the youngest ever to do so. All this, with good luck from Luis Enrique, PSG coach and Gijon-born, who yesterday sent a video message to all the protagonists of the first European Premier Padel tournament of the season.

WOMEN The quarter-finals of the women’s draw are also being played today, with seven of the eight seeds on court. The only pair out of the eight to advance to the round of 16 is Andrea Ustero and Ale Alonso, who beat Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno with a double 6-4. But given the talent and results of the young Spaniards last year, it cannot be considered a surprise.