Day 5. The best male semifinals on Saturday: top four seeds on court. Coello ends 2023 on top, Josemaria and Sanchez open at 11 a.m.

The perfect semi-finals. Number 1 vs. number 4, number 2 vs. number 3. In the decisive weekend of the men’s draw at Milano Premier Padel, all the stars will be on court: from Ale Galan and Juan Lebron to Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, from Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno to Fede Chingotto and Paquito Navarro. The women’s draw, meanwhile, brings three of the top four seeds: Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, Delfina Brea and Bea Gonzalez, Sofia Araujo and Alejandra Salazar, with Jessica Castelló and Aranzazu Ozoro (6) the only pair out of the first four. At the Allianz Cloud it will be a fantastic day, as great as Day 5 of the last Premier of the year was: it starts at 11 a.m. with the first two semifinals (Josemaria/Sanchez against Brea/Gonzalez and Lebron/Galan against Chingotto/Navarro), not before 3 p.m. the second session, opened by Araujo/Salazar against Castelló/Ozoro, followed by Stupaczuk/Di Nenno against Coello/Tapia.

THE VISIT Today, Premier Padel Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, together with International Padel Federation (FIP) President Luigi Carraro, welcomed the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Italian Republic, Khalid bin Youssef Al Sada, at the Milano Premier Padel P1.  During their visit, they witnessed the quarter-finals match of Sofia Araujo and Alejandra Salazar vs. Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno, and took a tour of the facilities.

MEN The first fact of Milan Premier Padel P1 has come at the end of an epic match: with the success, paired with Agustin Tapia, against Momo Gonzalez and Javi Garrido (7-6 3-6 7-5 in two hours and nine minutes), Arturo Coello is sure to end 2023 at number 1 in the FIP ranking. With the 300 points gained for access to the semifinals, Coello thus becomes unreachable for Galan and Lebron, but the winners of Rome, Madrid, Mendoza and Paris took a huge risk against Gonzalez and Garrido, resolving in the third set (7-6 3-6 7-5) a match in which the first break points in favour came in the very game that gave victory to ‘Arturito’ and Tapia. The other three quarter-finals, however, had all ended in two sets: contending for the final to Coello/Tapia will be ‘Superpibes’ Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, who beat Zapata/Guerrero 6-4 6-2. At the top, however, the challenge between Ale Galan and Juan Lebron (6-2 6-3 to Mendez/Rico) and Chingotto/Navarro, who beat Juan Tello and Alex Ruiz (6-2 7-5) in the morning.

WOMEN The first semi-final of the women’s draw, which will open at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Allianz Cloud, will be between the two pairs who have already won a Premier this year: on one side Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who triumphed in the last round played at Roland Garros, and on the other Delfina Brea and Bea Gonzalez, who had won in Madrid. The world number 1 with a double 6-3 beat Tamara Icardo and Virginia Riera, the number 3 did the same (6-1 6-4) against Claudia Jensen Sirvent and Veronica Virseda. At the bottom half, Sofia Araujo and Alejandra Salazar had a hard-fought victory over Patty Llaguno and Lucia Sainz (6-2 4-6 6-1), while late in the evening Jessica Castelló and Aranzazu Ozoro crushed the dream of Carmen Goenaga and Lucia Martinez (who were forced to withdraw when they were down 6-3 4-1), but left Milan remembering the win in their first round against Marta Ortega and Gemma Triay.