Ooredoo Qatar Major, day 2. Gemma, Paquito, Marta: the day of first times

For Paquito Navarro and Sanyo Gutierrez, after their surprising ko in the opening round of the Riyadh Season P1, came the first victory of the season. The number 4 on the Ooredoo Qatar Major draw advanced to the second round of the first Major of the year (they had benefited from a bye in the first round) by beating qualifiers Cordoba/Iriart 6-2 6-2. Tomorrow, however, on their way will be Javi Rico and Juanlu Esbri, the two Spanish players who defeated Navarro and Gutierrez in Saudi Arabia. But it was also the day of the first victory of the new pairs in the women’s draw: Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez, number 3 in the seeding, won 6-2 6-0 over the French Collombon/Ginier Barbier, while ‘Martita’ Ortega and Veronica Virseda (4) did the same (6-4 6-2 over Castillon/Piltcher). Osoro/Goenaga also performed well, giving up just one game to Arruabarrena/Casali in their first match.

DEBUT The big boys did not fail to win: Juan Lebron and Ale Galan (1) beat Daniel Windahl and José Solano Marmolejo (6-3 6-3) in one hour and nine minutes, Stupaczuk/Di Nenno (3) 6-2 6-3 over Jofre/Hernandez, Gonzalez/Chingotto (5) 6-4 6-3 over the Argentinean talents Libaak and Augsburger, Belasteguin/Capra (6) 7-6 6-3 over the Melendez brothers. Among the women, successes on the debut for the finalist pairs in Riyadh: 6-0 6-3 by Josemaria/Sanchez over Cañellas and Navarro, 6-1 6-2 by Brea/Gonzalez over Fassio/Borrero. Out went number 6 Riera/Araujo, beaten by Sharifova/Carnicero, and number 8 Iglesias/Las Heras, defeated by Vano/Schuck. Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, who took advantage of Zapata/Goenaga’s withdrawal, didn’take the court.

TUESDAY Tomorrow the tournament gets into full swing with the round of 16: the most fascinating challenge is that between Lebron/Galan and Yanguas/Garrido (10). The two champions from Riyadh have made a great start to the season, but on the other side of the net there will be two strong opponents. For Josemaria/Sanchez, however, the threat is 45-year-old Portuguese Ana Caterina Nogueira, paired with Beatriz Caldera.