Day 3. Alonso-Ustero, will 2025 be the year of the boom? Today the first semi-final

Four months ago, in the P1 in Dubai, they had come close. However the Premier Padel P2 in Gijon turns out, Ale Alonso and Andrea Ustero’s goals for 2025 include winning the first Premier title as a pair. If the first tournament of the year, in Riyadh, had ended almost immediately with their defeat in the round of 16 against Delfi Brea and Gemma Triay, in Gijon came the first ‘upset’ of the season: with a 6-2 6-4 win over Bea Gonzalez and Claudia Fernandez, Ale and Andrea earned their way into the semifinals, and are the only non seeded pair to do this. But as happened in the round of 16, when Alonso and Ustero had eliminated Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno, this cannot be considered a surprise.

The 18-year-old from Valladolid and the 17-year-old from Barcelona have big plans for their careers: last year they qualified for the Finals in Barcelona, this year they are aiming higher, both in terms of titles together (Alonso won the FIP Platinum in Mexico paired with Lucia Sainz, in a later successful attempt to collect points for the Finals) and in terms of FIP ranking, which currently sees Ustero number 14 and Alonso number 16. The semi-final will instead be against number 1 Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez (always victorious in the five previous matches and without losing a set), in a P2 Gijon draw that at the bottom half finds the number 2 and 4 seeds, with Brea and Triay facing Marta Ortega and Sofia Araujo.

MEN Very young semifinalists among the women, but not the youngest on court at the Palacio de Deportes de la Guía ‘Presidente Adolfo Suárez’: in the men’s draw, in fact, Facundo Dehnike’s dream week continues. The Paraguayan, born in 2008, paired with Manuel Aragon (2006) also beat Hossam/Lacamoire (4) and today will face two more young talents: Diego Garcia (2006) and Francisco ‘Curro’ Cabeza (2007) in a match between NextGen. On the other side, Simone Cremona and Jaume Romera (1) against Tolito Aguirre and Gonza Alfonso (3). At stake, for all, the first final of their lives in a Premier Padel tournament.