The draw for the men’s and women’s tournaments: Collado-Hernandez the pair to beat in the men’s draw, Orsi-Marchetti dream of another gold

The road is set. Just hours before the opening ceremony of the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, the first Padel tournament in the history of the competition officially got under way with the draw for the three events: the 24-pair men’s draw, with the eight seeds entering directly in the round of 16; the 19-pair women’s draw, featuring three first-round matches to complete the round-of-16 line-up; and the mixed doubles event, which is part of the national team competitions.

 

MEN Pol Hernandez, world number 35 in the FIP ranking, and Guille Collado (37) are the top seeds in the men’s draw and will look to make the most of a partnership strengthened through their experience together in Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour as they target the gold medal. They will open their campaign against Egypt’s Hossam/Wakim or Vatican City athletes Lucarelli/Peloni. On the other side of the draw, second seeds José Diestro and David Gala will face either Greece’s Balafas/Sioulis or Tunisia’s Elloumi/Helali in the round of 16. Also hoping to join the race for the medals are Italy’s Flavio Abbate and Alvaro Montiel (3), as well as Portugal’s Nuno Deus and Miguel Deus (4), both well-established partnerships – and, in the case of the Deus brothers, also a family affair. The other seeds in the top half are France’s Bastien Blanqué and Dylan Guichard (5) and Italy’s Marco Cassetta and Simone Iacovino (6). In the bottom half are also Portugal’s Pedro Araujo and Pedro Graca (7), and France’s Yoan Boronad and Timeo Fonteny (8).

 

WOMEN The sister of Pedro Araujo, Sofia Araujo, is the highest-ranked athlete in the FIP ranking among all those competing in Taranto. World number 8, Araujo will have the experience of Ana Catarina Nogueira by her side. And speaking of experience, Spain’s Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno will reunite at the Mediterranean Games, with another Spanish pair – Nuria Rodriguez and Jimena Velasco – completing the top three seeds. Araujo/Nogueira will open against Turkey’s Kocak/Polat, Sainz/Llaguno against Montenegro’s Matijevic/Simonovic, and Rodriguez/Velasco against the winners of the match between Croatia’s Balog/Jurkovic and Serbia’s Mirkovic/Nikolic. A semi-final meeting between Nuria Rodriguez and Italy’s Giulia Dal Pozzo is a possibility, following the achievements of the first half of the season. Dal Pozzo, partnering Carlotta Casali, is the fifth seed, behind Giorgia Marchetti and Carolina Orsi in the entry list. After winning gold at the European Games in Krakow three years ago, Orsi and Marchetti dream of reliving those emotions.