By Kevin Rademeyer, Sports Journalist.
Photo: Mariano Castro/ Premier Padel.
It was a thrilling quarter-final day at the CUPRA Rotterdam Premier Padel P2, with Momo González – Lucas Campagnolo, Franco Stupaczuk – Jon Sanz and Coki Nieto – Mike Yanguas emerging as the standout teams after defeating three of the four top seeds in the men’s draw.
In the women’s draw, the favourites lived up to expectations and the semi-finals will feature a ‘perfect’ line-up, with the four highest-ranked duos all making it through. Gemma Triay – Delfi Brea will face Ari Sánchez – Andrea Ustero, the Paris Major champions, while Perlamita will face Claudia Fernández – Martina Calvo for the third time in recent weeks.
The tournament’s No. 8 seeds continue to impress. Since joining forces at the end of May, they have played nine Premier Padel tournaments and have only failed to reach the quarter-finals on three occasions.
The pair came through an electric clash against Di Nenno – Navarro (#4), whom they had already defeated at the same stage of the Italy Major several months ago. After dropping the opening set 2-6, they levelled the match by winning the second-set tie-break 7-1, before their resilience made the difference when it mattered most. Despite trailing 4-5, they saved two match points and won three consecutive games to seal a 7-5 victory after two hours and 49 minutes.
“Playing alongside ‘Campa’ is so easy… he can even bring a dead man back to life!” González joked after the battle. “I don’t even have the strength to cry… Imagine how tired I feel! We showed our heart on court and played as a team”, said Campagnolo.
With this victory, the duo are guaranteed to earn at least 180 points this week in the FIP Race, a major result that brings them closer to the Tour Finals, the most special tournament of the season, where the 16 best players of this ranking will compete in December.
The second upset of the day came from Stupaczuk – Sanz, the tournament’s No. 5 seeds, who defeated Chingalán in the quickest match of the day, winning 6-4, 6-4 in just one hour and 17 minutes.
It is their first Premier Padel semi-final as a pair since beginning their project together last August, and it comes after they eliminated a pair fighting for the No. 1 spot in the FIP Ranking.
“We lost a final last week that was tough for us at the FIP Platinum Lyon, and we’re really happy with the way we turned things around here against the second-best pair in the world,” Sanz said after the match. The victory also saw him beat Galán for the first time on the Tour.
Madrid P1 runners up Yanguas and Nieto secured another significant victory by defeating third seeds Juan Lebrón and Leo Augsburger. They saved two set points in the opening set before winning the tie break without dropping a point, 7- 0. An early break in the second set then helped them close out a 7- 6, 6 -4 victory.
Yanguas and Nieto will face Stupaczuk and Sanz in Saturday’s semi final, with both teams also battling for the fourth seeding position on the Tour from the Milan P1 onwards.
Semifinals Order of Play
Fernández – Calvo (#4) vs Josemaría – González (#2)
Tapia – Coello (#1) vs Campagnolo – González (#8)
Triay – Brea (#1) vs Sánchez – Ustero (#3)
Stupaczuk – Sanz (#5) vs Yanguas-Nieto (#6).