World Padel Tour, in La Rioja is an encore of Coello-Tapia. Slam Padel: Abbate-Captains ok

Valentino Libaak and Leonardo Roman Augsburger. Or if you prefer, Tino and Leo: 35 years old together, they were the ones who took the stage in the stage of the World Padel Tour in La Rioja, before bowing down to the “monsters” Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia in the final. On the very fast field of the “Superdomo”, the two platinum-plated teenagers – also favored by a not impossible draw – wrote a page in the history of padel: it had never happened before that two boys who entered the main draw thanks to a wild card reached the final in a WPT tournament. But they melted at the finish line, in the presence of opponents from another planet. Eliminated in the semifinals the other pair of “Pibes” formed by Di Nenno and Stupaczuk, it was therefore up to Libaak and Augsburger to exalt the home crowd, in an edition of the tournament that did not see Galan and Lebron at the start (due to an injury of the latter), the duo who dominated last season but who did not start 2023 well. In the final match, however, there was no match: 6-1 6-0 in an instant, the level too much higher of Coello-Tapia, less foul than the two boys and more ready for appointments of this type. In short, after Abu Dhabi, the encore has arrived for the “pareja” formed by the Spanish giant and the “Mozart” of Catamarca: at the moment they are the men to beat.

Triazar party

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The women’s tournament went instead to the very strong Alejandra Salazar and Gemma Triay, who in the Spanish derby in the final reassembled Marta Ortega and Bea Gonzalez, able to block Josemaria-Sanchez’s way in the semifinal. First set won in the tie-break by Ortega-Gonzalez, also thanks to a “review” on the decisive point which turned out to be unfavorable to Triay (the ball had first touched the court and then the glass). Second set still very balanced, decided by a winning answer from Triay which was worth the break and 6-4. In the third, “Triazar” quickly took off, closing 6-1.

Slam padel

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A breath of fresh air even in our home padel. The first stage of the Slam Padel was held in Ostia and Rome, which saw the success of a left-handed Syracusan born in 2004, Flavio Abbate (Italian champion under 18 and 13 in the second band in the FITP ranking with 11,050 points). He played in tandem with a padel monument in our country, the stainless 47-year-old Marcelo Capitani: in the final they got the better of Calneggia-Tamame (respectively No. 1 and No. 27 in the national ranking). Among women, success for Chiara Pappacena (n° 4) and Giorgia Marchetti (n° 15): in the final they defeated 6-2 7-6 Roberta Vinci and Carolina Petrelli, who were in their first tournament together.