Back at the Movistar Arena. Fernandez chasing a third straight title, Augsburger and Di Nenno return as champions but now rivals

After the summer break, the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour begins the second half of the season with one of its most eagerly anticipated events: the Comunidad de Madrid P1, which will take place at the Movistar Arena one week before the Paris Major at Roland Garros. Four players who have since changed partners will return to defend the titles they won last year. In the 48-pair men’s draw, the defending champions are Leo Augsburger, now partnered with Juan Lebron, and Martin Di Nenno, who will instead play alongside Paquito Navarro. In the women’s draw, Claudia Fernandez has won the last two editions of the Madrid P1: the first with Gemma Triay, the second with Bea Gonzalez. She will now attempt to make it three in a row with Martina Calvo. Gonzalez, meanwhile, will team up with Paula Josemaria in search of a title that has been missing since Valladolid.

 

MEN Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia return to action following their London triumph at the beginning of August. The top seeds will begin their campaign in the second round, like all 16 seeded pairs, against either Fede Mouriño and Marc Quilez or Javi Ruiz and Santiago Pineda. Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan, winners in Pretoria, will definitely face a pair coming through the qualifiers. Javi Martinez and Luis Hernandez, or two qualifiers, will be the first opponents of Lebron/Augsburger, with the Madrid P1 marking the Premier Padel debut of Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz (4), as well as the return of Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas (5). Both pairs are already in action this week at the FIP Gold Belgrade. These are the potential quarter-final match-ups: Coello/Tapia (1)-Nieto/Yanguas (5), Guerrero/Leal (7)-Lebron/Augsburger (3), Stupaczuk/Sanz (4)-Gonzalez/Campagnolo (8), Di Nenno/Navarro (6)-Chingotto/Galan (2).

 

WOMEN In the 28-pair draw, the top four seeds will begin their campaigns in the last 16. Delfi Brea and Gemma Triay lead the entry list, but the draw has not been kind to the tournament’s top seeds, whose first opponents will be either Veronica Virseda and Martina Fassio or Nuria Rodriguez and Giulia Dal Pozzo. Ksenia Sharifova and Alix Collombon, or two qualifiers, will be the first opponents of Josemaria/Gonzalez, who are in the same half of the draw as Claudia Fernandez and Martina Calvo. In the top half are Ari Sanchez and Andrea Ustero, who will begin against either Jimena Velasco and Raquel Eugenio or Carolina Orsi and Patty Llaguno. The potential quarter-final match-ups are: Brea/Triay (1)-Salazar/Osoro (8), Icardo/Jensen (6)-Sanchez/Ustero (3), Fernandez/Calvo (4)-Guinart/Alonso (7), Ortega/Araujo (5)-Josemaria/Gonzalez (2), with Ale Salazar ready to play the final tournament of her career in her home city. And Madrid is ready to pay tribute to a legend.