Predictions came true on the opening day of the second Major of this season. At the Foro Italico in Rome, all of the top players in the men’s main draw prevailed in their matches today; the women’s main draw results are still pending. The top eight seeded players had already qualified for the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel Round of 32, where the participants were able to move forward.
RESULTS: There were three seeded pairs in today’s men’s draw, and each of them won in straight sets. Eleventh-ranked players at Foro Italico, Alex Arroyo and Edu Alonso, who had reached the quarterfinals of four Premier Padel events this year (Acapulco, Riyadh, Qatar Major, and Santiago), defeated two other Spanish nationals, Guillermo Collado Losada and Javier Martinez, in two sets (6-2, 7-6). Javier Leal (13), together with Lucas Campagnolo, played even better, conceding only three games against Rafael Mendez and Mario Del Castillo, two Spanish players. Xisco Gil and Ramiro Moyano, ranked number 14, defeated Michele Bruno and Simone Iacovino, two Italians, in a double 6-2 score. Just one match made it to the third set, and that was the one in which Spanish “pareja” Nacho Vilariño Gestoso/Miguel Semmler defeated fellow Spaniards Ferran Insa Sotillo/Roger Aromi.
There will be five players that are seeded for Tuesday’s men’s draw. Coki Nieto and number nine seed Jon Sanz, who won the Betclic Bordeaux Premier Padel P2 last Sunday in France (for the first time), are the most eagerly awaited game. Their fourth match on Center Court will be a battle versus Francisco Guerrero and Jairo Bautista. Expectations are also high for the tenth-seeded Lucas Bergamini and Victor Ruiz, who square off against the Spanish qualifiers Pablo Castillo Valverde and Jose Roman Martinez in the opening match on Court 6. Tuesday marks the start of the women’s draw’s first round of matches. The top sixteen players advance and play on Wednesday after receiving a bye.