Day 2. Tolito and Javi Garrido, the new era begins with a victory

It feels strange not to see “Los Magicos” on the same side of the net anymore. Tolito Aguirre and Gonza Alfonso have put on a show all over the world, but they have decided to go their separate ways. Starting with the Premier Padel Betclic Bordeaux P2, Alfonso has chosen to play with a legend like Sanyo Gutierrez; Tolito, on the other hand, is paired with Javi Garrido, an extraordinary player who is eager to redeem himself after his recent results. Tolito and Javi’s adventure at the Patinoire de Mériadeck began with a comeback victory (3-6, 6-3, 6-1) over Gonzalo Rubio and Javi Ruiz, which earned them a fascinating round of 16 against Paquito Navarro and Lucas Bergamini. The French tournament also got underway thanks to the pairing of Inigo Jofre and Alex Arroyo, who made life tough for Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan (forcing them into a third set), but it was not easy either for Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, who recovered from a break down in the second set before beating Juan Cruz Belluati and Pablo Lijo. Today, in the fifth match on centre court, the FIP ranking number 1s will face Sanyo Gutierrez and Gonza Alfonso, before yet another duel in this phase of the season between Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas (4) and the “bogey team” formed by Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal, winners in both Rome and Valladolid.

WOMEN The women’s draw will see the first round of 16 matches take place today: the Bordeaux crowd will be hoping to see Alix Collombon celebrate, with the Frenchwoman facing the number 4 seeds Andrea Ustero and Sofia Araujo, paired with Araceli Martinez, not before 5 p.m. on a day that will also see the number 5 pairs (Marta Ortega and Tamara Icardo) and 7 (Ale Alonso and Claudia Jensen) take to the court, ahead of the number 1 seeds Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, who will face Ana Catarina Nogueira and Martina Fassio tomorrow.