Day 6, Ustero rewrites history: she’s the youngest finalist in a Premier tournament

Andrea Ustero has rewritten padel history. The Spanish is the youngest player to reach a final in the Premier Padel circuit. And she will do this in one of the four most important tournaments on the calendar, the Greenweez Paris Major. At 17 years and 4 months, Ustero – paired with Delfi Brea – will play for the title in one of the temples of world sport, which two months ago hosted the Olympic tennis tournament. Brea and Ustero started as the number 4 seed on the draw and, in the semifinals, they eliminated in three sets the number 6 seeded pair of Ale Salazar and Jessica Castelló, who in the decisive moment of the match perhaps suffered from fatigue from the previous day’s marathon against Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez. It ended in fact 6-4 4-6 6-0, with the Argentine going in search of her fifth title of the season on Sunday after the four won with Bea Gonzalez. Delfi who, by the way, with the qualification to the final is already sure to overtake Fernandez herself, rising to number 4 in the FIP ranking. On the other side of the net, however, will be world number 1 Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who already lifted the trophy at Roland Garros last year and who will be looking to win their eighth title in 2024. In the second semi-final of the women’s draw, which also lasted three sets, Paula and Ari beat Veronica Virseda and Aranzazu Osoro (8) 6-2 3-6 6-3, earning them access to their third final in three majors after Doha and Rome. And in both Qatar and Italy, the Spaniards went on to win the tournament.

MEN In the men’s draw, however, it will be the usual final to decide the kings of Paris: Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia on one side, Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan on the other. It will be the thirteenth duel in 13 tournaments played by both pairs in an endless challenge (12 finals and the semifinal in Sevilla), which so far sees Coello and Tapia ahead 7-5 but with a series of four wins and only one set lost in their last four matches, all finals (Malaga, Madrid, Rotterdam and Valladolid). Against Mike Yanguas and Franco Stupaczuk (4), the number 1 seed claimed their 24th consecutive victory, with their last loss coming against Chingotto and Galan in the P2 final in Genova. The first of the two semi-finals ended 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes, with Coello and Tapia securing their chance to win their tenth title of the season. For the ‘Chingalan’, on the other hand, it would be their sixth: in the semifinals, Chingotto and Galan beat Martin Di Nenno and Juan Lebron (3) 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 22 minutes, in a match that the Argentine and ‘Lobo’ had tried to reopen in the second set, but were unable to stop the power of the other Argentine and the Spanish.