Mar del Plata Premier Padel P1, day 6: Brea-Gonzalez, what a marathon! 20th win in a row means the final

Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez, the number 2 seed in the Mar del Plata Premier Padel P1, won their 20th match in a row. But to do so they had to stay on the court three hours and 28 minutes. It was an authentic marathon (6-2 6-7 7-5) against Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez, which for the winners of the last four tournaments in a row (Puerto Cabello, Brussels, Sevilla, and Asunción, the latter in the final against Triay/Fernandez) means qualifying for the final, but not the record for the longest match in the history of the Premier Padel circuit. In fact, the record of three hours and 46 minutes of the match won last year in Paris by Bea Caldera and Ana Catarina Nogueira over the Sanchez Alayeto sisters still stands. After dominating the first set, Brea and Gonzalez found themselves down by a break in both the second and (hard-fought) third sets, but it was once again the Argentinean – cheered on by the crowd at the Polideportivo Islas Malvinas – and the Spanish who won. In the final, Delfi and Bea will find Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who in the second semi-final beat 6-2 6-3 Andrea Ustero and Alejandra Alonso, who played an extraordinary tournament. The world number 1s, after having cancelled three break points in the first game of the match, took their service in the next game; in the second set, however, Ustero/Alonso broke in the opening game, ‘tied’ by Josemaria/Sanchez at 2-2 before the decisive break at 5-3. For Josemaria/Sanchez this is the fourth final of the season: the balance is two victories (in Riyadh, right over Brea/Gonzalez, and Doha), and one defeat, the 6-1 6-1 defeat by Brea and Gonzalez in Sevilla. It will played at 2 p.m. Argentine time, 19:00 CET.

MEN Playing for the men’s title, as a week ago in Paraguay, will again be Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia (1) against Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan (2). Coello/Tapia, winners seven days ago in Asunción, will be chasing their fifth trophy of the season after Doha, Acapulco, Puerto Cabello and the one in Paraguay; it could instead be the third as a pair, after Brussels and Sevilla, for ‘Chingalan’. In the first of the two semi-finals, the FIP number 1 and 2 beat 6-3 6-7 6-2 Mike Yanguas and Javi Garrido, who nevertheless left to the ovation of the Argentine public. Coello and Tapia thus reached their seventh final in eight tournaments on the Premier Padel circuit, despite losing the second-set tiebreak against a pair, number 6 on the draw, who are confirmed as among the most dangerous outsiders. ‘Arturito’ and ‘Agu’ found themselves down by a break in the third set, before immediately recovering the disadvantage and going 4-2 before closing in two hours and 18 minutes. In the second semi-final, however, after gaining the break in the third game (2-1), Franco Stupazcuk and Martin Di Nenno (4) lost their service three times in a row between the end of the first set (6-3) and the beginning of the second. The break that made the difference, however, was the one in the fifth game of the second set, with Chingotto and Galan taking serve with five points in a row, stopping the comeback chances of the ‘Superpibes’ and closing 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 7 minutes. The men’s final will be played not before 4.30 p.m. local time, 21.30 CET.