Before Calvo / Fernández, there was Sánchez / Ortega: a look back at the record that lasted almost ten years

Martina Calvo and Claudia Fernández have just broken a historic record in London, becoming the youngest women's pair to win a professional tournament. This record had been held since 2017 by Ariana Sánchez and Marta Ortega. Let's look back at a time when two players, aged 19 and 20, had already shaken up the hierarchy of world padel.

Le London P1 2026 has just changed an important line in the history books of women's padel.

With a combined age of only 38 years, 6 months and 21 days Martina Calvo and Claudia Fernández became the youngest female pair to win a professional tournament.

But to measure the significance of this record, we have to go back almost ten years.

Before Calvo / Fernández , There were Sánchez / Ortega .

Two players who would become world padel icons, but who, in the spring of 2017, represented above all a generation that was already knocking very hard on the door of the best.

Marta Ortega, a precocious talent even before Santander

When Marta Ortega arrived at the Santander Open 2017, her youth was no longer really a discovery.

The Madrid native began competing on the professional circuit as a teenager. AS recalls that she made her professional debut at only 15 years .

And his rise had been particularly rapid.

From 2014 Ortega had reached the Masters final alongside Lucía Sainz. She had only just then... 17 years .

Padel Magazine Moreover, her exceptional precocity was highlighted as early as 2015: at 16, she was already facing some of the best pairs in the world and had become the youngest player to reach the final stages of the Masters.

In other words, when Santander arrived in 2017, "Martita" was no longer an unknown.

However, something is missing: a first major title on the World Padel Tour .

Ariana Sánchez, the other talent of the 1997 generation

Alongside her is another player born in 1997: Ariana Sánchez .

The two Spanish women have known each other for a long time. They shared youth selections and played together in the lower categories before reforming their partnership on the professional circuit during the 2016 season.

Ari then possessed much less experience from the later rounds of the World Padel Tour.

And Santander is going to speed everything up.

The tournament notably constitutes its first semi-final on the circuit , obtained with Ortega after a victory against Carolina Navarro and Cecilia Reiter.

They're taking down the number 1s

In the semi-finals, Sánchez and Ortega faced each other Marta Marrero and Alejandra Salazar , then number 1.

On paper, the difference in experience is considerable.

On the track, much less so.

The two young Spanish women caused a sensation and eliminated the top players on the circuit to reach the final of the first tournament of the 2017 season.

And their success owes nothing to a favorable starting point.

Before the final, they had successively eliminated Lorena Alonso / Noelia Marquez , Lucía Martínez / Carla Mesa , Carolina Navarro / Cecilia Reiter then Marta Marrero / Alejandra Salazar .

Four matches, four victories, and above all no set conceded .

On April 2, 2017, a record fell in Santander

In the final, the young Spanish women will face Eli Amatriain and Patty Llaguno , pair number 3 of the tournament.

Sánchez and Ortega continue their incredible week.

They win the final 6 / 4 7 / 6 and secure the first title of the 2017 season World Padel Tour.

Ariana Sánchez has 19 years Marta Ortega 20 years .

Between the two of them: 39 years, 10 months and 3 days .

At the time, no pair that young had ever won a professional women's tournament. The International Federation of Padel will still identify Sánchez/Ortega several years later as the youngest winning pair in a tournament by adding the ages of the two players .

A record that would stand the test of time.

A title that foreshadowed many things

In retrospect, Santander 2017 takes on a special dimension.

Because the two young women did not simply achieve an isolated feat.

A few months after Santander, they also won the Murcia Challenger by dominating Carolina Navarro and Cecilia Reiter 6 / 2 6 / 4 finally.

And their respective trajectories will then lead them to the very top of world padel.

Marta Ortega will notably become 2019 the youngest number 1 in history World Padel Tour , at only 22 years old, after a season that concluded with seven titles alongside Marta Marrero.

Ariana Sánchez will also reach the top of the world rankings and become one of the great references of her generation.

Santander was therefore not just the tournament of one exceptional week.

It was probably one of the first major signs of the generational shift that would transform women's padel .

From Sánchez/Ortega to Calvo/Fernández, nine years later

And that is precisely what makes the London P1 2026 so symbolic.

For almost ten years, no one had managed to do better than the 39 years, 10 months and 3 days cumulative de Sánchez and Ortega.

It was necessary to wait for the emergence of two other precocious phenomena.

Claudia Fernández and Martina Calvo: 38 years, 6 months and 21 days between them.

The 2017 record therefore falls by more than a year .

And the story has a lovely symmetry.

In 2017, Sánchez and Ortega had knocked out the number 1s before going on to claim their title.

In 2026, Calvo and Fernández directly defeated the World number 1 Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea in the final , 7/5 6/3, to seize the record.

Above all, Martina Calvo adds another historical line: to 18 years, 1 months and 4 days She becomes the youngest player to win a title on the major professional circuit, improving on Andrea Ustero's record.

Sánchez / Ortega had opened a path in 2017. Calvo / Fernández have, nine years later, pushed the limits of precocity even further.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.