Photo: WPT

The action of the Word Pádel Tour has returned to Scandinavian lands after Menorca and has arrived in Malmo for the penultimate tournament of the season, before the Master Final in Barcelona. The first round of the Malmo tournament has brought several surprises in the draw, some couples such as Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz or José Antonio Diestro and Javi Leal have been eliminated in the round of 32.

Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz fell at the first opportunity in Malmo against Víctor Ruiz and Lucas Bergamini by 3-6/6-3/3-6. Both couples started the match erratic when serving, which the opponents took advantage of, but the score was equal. Bergamini and Ruiz managed to unblock the situation and take the first set. Nieto and Sanz reacted, but it was not enough because in the third, Bergamini and Ruiz had no choice and took the victory.

Another of the surprises of the first round was the defeat of Javi Leal and José Antonio Diestro, who fell in the first round against Jaime Muñoz and Jairo Bautista by 3-6/6-7. In the next round Bautista and Muñoz will face Víctor Ruiz and Lucas Bergamini for a place in the quarterfinals.

Pablo Cardona and Javi Ruiz defeated the Argentine pairing of Tino Libaak and Leo Augsburger in two sets 7-5/6-4. The match was marked by the equality that the two couples had on the court. Throughout the match they played at the same level until Cardona and Ruiz took advantage of several specific moments to take the lead and therefore achieve the victory. Their rivals for the round of 16 will come from the match that will pit the number one couple in the ranking, Agustín Tapia and Arturo Coello, against Pincho Fernández and Gonzalo Rubio.

Alex Arroyo and Edu Alonso certified their pass to the next round after a great match, including a comeback, against Javi Rico and Rafa Méndez by 6-7/6-3/6-3. They are already waiting for rivals in the round of 16 who will be the winning couple of the duel between Juan Tello and Alex Ruiz with the local couple of Simon Vasquez and Daniel Windahl.

The pair formed by Miguel Yanguas and Pablo García Rodrigo took their first round match 6-1/4-6/6-3/ against Álvaro Cepero and Mario del Castillo. In the round of 16 they will face the winner of the round of 32 match against Juan Lebron and Ale Galán with Jaime Fermosell and José Solano. Juanlu Esbri and Lucas de Oliveira managed to win a closely contested match against Guille Collado and Martín Andornino by 6-4/7-5. They will meet in the next round with the winner of Rodríguez-Marqués against Benitez-Dasi.

The Javis defeated Lucho Capra and Alex Chozas in a match where García and González were able to control from the beginning, and ended up winning 6-3/7-6. The Javis managed to take the lead very early in the game, thanks to a good attack and a better defense. An initial 3-0 made them face the first set comfortably, which ended on their side. However, the second was very close, to the point that it was decided in the tiebreak. Their rivals in the second round will be known after Momo González and Javi Garrido’s match against the Swedes Adam Axelsson and Albin Olsson.

David Gala and Antón Sans got their ticket to the round of 16 by defeating Juan Cruz Bellauti and Arnau Ayats in three sets, 6-4/1-6/6-3. Gala and Sans began hitting first, who managed to undo the continuous exchange of blows in the match. Bellauti and Ayats equalized with the second set, but in the third Gala and Sans recovered their feelings and scored the victory. Their rivals in the next round will come out of the duel that pits the number two couple in the ranking, Martín Di Nenno and Franco Stupaczuk, against Teo Zapata and Fran Guerrero.

The round of 32 closes on Wednesday with eight games, which will finish telling the round of 16 draws. These are the matches that will be played on Wednesday:

Tapia-Coello vs Fernández-Rubio
Jorge-Castillo vs Díaz-Lamperti
Moyano-Gil vs Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez
Tello-Ruiz vs Windahl-Vasquez
Galán-Lebron vs Solano-Fermosell
Benítez-Rico vs Rodríguez-Marqués
González-Garrido vs Olsson-Axelsson
Di Nenno-Stupaczuk vs Zapata-Guerrero