Doha: The Argentine duo of Franco Stupaczuk and Martin di Nenno, the second seeds, yesterday staged a dramatic comeback victory against fifth seeds Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia to book their place in the final of the Ooredoo Qatar Major Premier Padel 2023.
Stupaczuk and di Nenno, who began their partnership this season, defeated their opponents 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to confirm their place in the final of the six-day tournament, where they will be challenged by fourth-seeds Fernando Belasteguín and Carlos Daniel Gutiérrez, who edged Jeronimo González and Álejandro Ruiz Granados, the seventh seeds, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the other interesting semifinal clash of the day.
González and Granados created one of the greatest upsets of the tournament on Friday, knocking out world No. 1 and tournament top seeds Alejandro Galán and Juan Lebrón in the quarterfinals.
While today’s clash is the second successive final in Doha for di Nenno, who won last year’s title while he was partnered with Francisco Navarro, it is however, the first appearance in the final for Stupaczuk.
Stupaczuk and di Nenno, who have a combined 14,915 Team Points between them, had defeated Javier Garrido and Federico Chingotto, the sixth seeds, in straight sets in the quarterfinals en route to their last-four clash with Coello and Tapia.
Belasteguín and Gutiérrez, on the other hand, have a combined 13,530 Team Points between them and will be hoping to be the winners of the €525,000 total prize money as against their higher-ranked opponents.
Premier Padel is the official global padel tour, governed by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and backed by the Professional Padel Association (PPA) and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).
Source: Qatar Olympic Committee
