Men’s day 5: Not one Argentina-Spain, but two. Italy-Portugal the final for a medal

The never-ending challenge. Just as in the women’s draw, in the men’s draw of the FIP World Padel Championships it will be Argentina and Spain who will play for the world title in Doha. The head to head of world titles sees the Albiceleste ahead 11-4, but Spain won in Qatar in 2021. At the Khalifa Tennis&Squash Complex, not before 5.30 p.m. local time (3.30 p.m. CET), the world’s best players will take the court, many of whom will be opponents for a day despite being partners on the Premier Padel circuit. Applause, however, for Italy and Portugal, who in the final for third place will be playing to get on the podium for the first time in their history.

Defending champion Argentina beat Portugal 2-0. The first match, however, was a painful one for the ‘Superpibes’ Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, who came back to play together in the national team jersey. After winning 6-1 the first set against brothers Nuno and Miguel Deus, Portugal took the match to the third set, which closed 6-1 6-7 6-4 in two hours. Agustin Tapia and Fede Chingotto, on the other hand, took only 49 minutes to beat Jesus/Pascoal 6-0 6-1.

Spain, on the other hand, gave Italy a total of just five games in three matches: Juan Lebron and Arturo Coello beat Facundo Dominguez and Lorenzo Di Giovanni 6-1 6-1, Ale Galan and Jon Sanz did the same against Giulio Graziotti and Riccardo Sinicropi (6-1 6-0), and Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas closed the hat-trick against Michele Bruno and Aris Patiniotis (6-1 6-1), with Bruno, however, playing one of the best points of the tournament at the start of the second set: a pass with his back to the court that also gained the applause of his opponents.

The semifinals for the fifth to eighth positions were also played today: the United Arab Emirates defeated Chile 2-1 (wins for Jofre/Icardo and Jurado/Ayats) and, in the final for fifth place, they will face Brazil, who beat France 2-1 thanks to Bergamini/Gomes‘ decisive point over Guichard/Vives.

FIP WORLD PADEL CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S QUARTER-FINALS

Argentina-Chile 3-0
Portugal-UAE 2-0
Spain-Brazil 2-0
France-Italy 0-2

SEMIFINALS

Argentina-Portugal 2-0
Spain-Italy 3-0

FINAL

Argentina-Spain