From the Araujo family to Cassetta-Dal Pozzo: the challenge for mixed doubles victory begins

Twelve pairs, one goal: victory in the mixed draw at the Mediterranean Games 2026. The Parco Mediterraneo Salinella in Taranto will provide the setting where the players in this category will compete from 23 to 28 August. Just hours before the competition’s opening ceremony, the draws were made. The leading stars of the mixed event are Portugal’s Sofia Araujo and Italy’s Giulia Dal Pozzo, ranked No. 8 and No. 28 respectively in the FIP Ranking. In June, Araujo was a finalist at the Premier Padel P1 in Valencia, while she has already won the P2 in Bordeaux in 2025 and the P2 events in Genoa and Newgiza in 2024. Dal Pozzo, just entered the Top 30, meanwhile, is enjoying a breakthrough year. The Italian has reached two prestigious semi-finals: one at the Rome Major and the other at the Valladolid P2.

 

The two players are on opposite sides of the draw. Sofia Araujo is the No. 1 seed and will take to the court with her brother Pedro Araujo: the pair are in the top half alongside the Tunisian duo of Dora Chamli-Mehdi Elloumi (4). Dal Pozzo and Marco Cassetta (2) are in the bottom half alongside the French duo of Louise Bahurel-Dylan Guichard (3).

 

All four of the top four pairs in the draw have a bye in the first round (scheduled for Sunday, August 23). In their opening match, Sofia and Pedro Araujo will face the winners of the match between Sergis Kyratzis-Maria Siopacha (Cyprus) and Zeynep Kocak-Unsal Ataol Toker (Türkiye), while Dal Pozzo-Cassetta will face either Donika Bashota-Lavdrim Krasniqi (Kosovo) or Gianluca Lamberto Pelonzi-Ivanka Simonivic (Montenegro). Chamli-Elloumi await the winners of the round-of-16 match between Moura Hakim-Youssef Hossam (Egypt) and Pavlos-Louis Balafas and Christina-Stylani Ntanou (Greece). Either Simon Javorsek-Tina Lah (Slovenia) or Uros Acimov-Ana Mirkovic (Serbia) will be the first opponents for Bahurel-Guichard.