Banco de Chile Santiago Premier Padel P1, day 2. Chile celebrates Valdes. Alonso, birthday with victory… and cake

Celebrating his 18th birthday on a padel court and with a victory in the Banco de Chile Santiago Premier Padel P1. Ale Alonso, one of the best talents in world padel, could not have imagined a better party, also with a cake and candles on the court. Paired with another youngster, Andrea Ustero, Alonso – who climbed a few days ago to number 19 in the FIP ranking – beat Ariadna Cañellas and Teresa Navarro 6-2 6-3, qualifying for the round of 16 and dreaming of another week as the protagonists like the one that took them to the semifinals in Mar del Plata.

Among the seeded players in the second P1 in a row, good debuts also for the number 5 Marta Ortega and Veronica Virseda (6-3 7-5 to Sara Pujals Perez and Giorgia Marchetti), for the number 6 Jessica Castelló and Claudia Jensen (6-3 6-4 to another young player, Jana Montes, paired with Marta Talavan), for number 7 Virginia Riera and Sofia Araujo (6-1 6-2 to Noemi Aguilar and Letizia Maria Manquillo) and for number 8 Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno (6-2 6-1 to Carla Mesa and Sara Ruiz Soto). Today, the world’s top players will make their debut at the Movistar Arena. Josemaria/Sanchez (1) against Martinez/Guinart, Brea/Gonzalez (2) against Rodriguez/Rodriguez Abajo, Triay/Fernandez (3) against Casali/Soriano and Salazar/Icardo (4) against Rufo/Caldera.

MEN The Santiago fans celebrated the victory of home idol Javi Valdes, number 55 in the FIP ranking: paired with Emilio Sanchez Chamero, Valdes (coming from the qualifiers) beat another pair of qualifiers, Luis Hernandez and Inigo Jofre, 7-6 6-4, and will be back on court today against Lucho Capra and Alex Chozas (13). Nothing to do for another Chilean, Charly Zarhi, who struggled with Argentina’s Axel Guevara but lost 4-6 6-2 6-1 against Miguel Angel Solbes and Carlos Marti.

Today, with the schedule starting at 9 a.m. local time, 3 p.m. CET, the padel stars make their debut: Nachi Sager and Salva Oria will take on Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia (1), while Mar del Plata champions Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan (2) find Italians Aris Patiniotis and Facundo Dominguez. Marc Quilez and Toni Bueno will be the opponents of Paquito Navarro and Juan Lebron (3), José Antonio Diestro and Pol Hernandez Alvarez those of Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno (4).