GNP Mexico P1, day 3. Nogueira and Caldera’s perfect day: Paula and Ari out

The news coming from GNP Mexico P1 is that there will be a new winning pair in the women’s draw. The eternal Ana Catarina Nogueira (45) and Bea Caldera defeated Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who had so far won every match of the season and lifted the trophy in both Riyadh and Doha. A hard-fought match that lasted over two hours and ended in a double tiebreak in favour of the Portuguese and the Spaniard gave to Nogueira/Caldera access to the quarter-finals of the Acapulco tournament. Already in Doha, also in the round of 16, Paula and Ari had suffered against this pair for one set. This time the feat was complete, in a top half of the draw where predictions were not respected in three out of four matches. Nogueira/Caldera, in the quarters, will face Virginia Riera and Sofia Araujo (6), the only seeds left in the running. Out went both Alejandra Salazar and Tamara Icardo (5) and Marta Ortega and Veronica Virseda (4), defeated by the same score (2-6 6-2 6-2) by Osoro/Goenaga and Alonso/Ustero respectively. At the bottom, however, quarters according to the order in which they entered the draw: Triay/Fernandez (3) against Castelló/Jensen (7) and Sainz/Llaguno (8) against Brea/Gonzalez (2).

MEN In Acapulco, in the last ‘dance’ of Juan Lebron and Ale Galan, here is the possible revenge of Doha. For the Spaniards, who gave up just three games (6-2 6-1) to Gonzalez/Santigosa in the round of 16, it is now back to Mike Yanguas and Javi Garrido (7), who instead needed three sets (6-2 6-7 6-3) to beat Moyano/Gil (11). The other quarter in the bottom half will be between Stupaczuk/Di Nenno (3) and Nieto/Sanz (8). At the top, however, the run of Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia (1) continues, who after a 6-1 double to Cardona/Ruiz (16) will now face Momo Gonzalez and Fede Chingotto (5) in the quarters. For Paquito Navarro and Sanyo Gutierrez (4), who needed the third set to defeat 6-3 1-6 6-0 Campagnolo/Gutierrez (the latter Sanyo’s nephew), there are now Alonso/Arroyo, the only pair outside the top eight seeds (12) to have reached the quarters, starting at 11am Mexican time (6pm CET) with six matches on the Arena GNP and two on the Cancha Caliente Mx.