Lyon, Day3. Collombon beats legend Salazar and keeps dreaming. Esbri bids for another feat  

Winning at home has a special feeling; doing so against a legend like Ale Salazar, who arrived in France as the defending champion, makes it even more special. At the FIP Platinum Lyon, Alix Collombon, alongside Ksenia Sharifova, continues her run: their comeback victory over top seeds Salazar and Aranzazu Osoro, 3-6 7-5 7-6, sends them into the semi-finals, where they will face Bea Caldera and Carmen Goenaga, who defeated Giorgia Marchetti and Lara Arruabarrena in two sets. In the bottom half, number 5 and 6 seeds will meet: Lucia Sainz and Leti Manquillo on one side, after their 6-2 1-6 6-4 victory over Ale Alonso and Giulia Dal Pozzo, and Martina Fassio and Agueda Perez on the other, after they also won in three sets, 6-4 3-6 6-3, against Lorena Rufo and Jessica Castelló.

 

MEN While only one of the top four seeds remains in contention in the women’s draw, three are still alive in the men’s. Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz, after beating Alex Chozas and Juani Rubini 7-5 7-6, will face the tournament’s only ‘surprise’, if it can be called that: Inigo Jofre and Juanlu Esbri defeated number 3 seeds Martin Di Nenno and Juan Tello 6-4 6-2. Esbri is the defending champion in Lyon, having won the title in 2025 alongside Alex Ruiz. In the bottom half, the predictions were respected: number 2 seeds Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal, after beating Alvaro Montiel and Dani Santigosa 6-3 3-6 6-3, will face number 4 seeds Momo Gonzalez and Lucas Campagnolo, who defeated the other French player still in contention, Thomas Leygue, and Jesus Moya 6-3 6-4.

 

The women’s semi-finals in Lyon will begin at 14:00 CEST, with the men’s semi-finals scheduled for not before 17:00. All matches will be streamed live on the FIP YouTube channel.