The surprises keep coming at  Madrid P1 After the eliminations of  Stupaczuk / Sanz (TS4)  et  Momo González / Campagnolo (TS8) This time it's the top seed, 3rd  Juan Lebrón / Leo Augsburger  who are eliminated in the round of 16. The Argentinians  Gonza Alfonso / Tino Libaak  pull off the biggest upset of the evening by winning  7/6(5) 7/5 .

Alfonso/Libaak secure their benchmark victory

On paper, it's  Lebrón / Augsburger  were logically the favorites. The third-placed pair in the tournament and already champions this season, the Spanish-Argentine partnership is among the main contenders of  Coello / Tapia and Galán / Chingotto .

But Alfonso and Libaak confirmed the full potential of their new partnership. In an extremely tight first set, the Argentinians managed to make the difference in the  tie-break, won 7 points to 5 .

The second set remains just as close.  Alfonso appears physically diminished But Libaak takes on a huge amount of responsibility and keeps his partner in the game. At 5-5, the Argentinians finally find the opening to seal the victory.  7/5  and deliver one of the biggest performances of the tournament.

An important victory for Alfonso and Libaak

This success comes at the perfect time for the two Argentinians. Their partnership was a real gamble: by deciding to play together, they knew they could lose a more favorable position among the seeded players, but they were counting on their level of play to compete with the best pairs.

In Madrid, the gamble is starting to pay off.  Alfonso and Libaak reach their first quarter-finals of the season together and do so by directly eliminating the third pair from the tournament.

This performance is all the more important as both players are also looking to score points in the race for a place with  Argentina for the next FIP ​​World Cup in Doha .

Another setback for Lebrón / Augsburger

For  Lebrón and Augsburger This elimination is undoubtedly a huge disappointment. After showing they were capable of winning titles, they hoped to take advantage of the restart in Madrid to immediately put the pressure back on the top two pairs in the world.

They ultimately exited the tournament in the round of 16, without having managed to sufficiently impose their game against an Argentinian pair who were particularly solid in the important moments.

Madrid knocks out the seeded teams

And Lebrón/Augsburger are far from being the only favorites to have fallen on Thursday.

A few hours earlier,  José Jiménez / Álex Arroyo (TS14)  had brought down  Franco Stupaczuk / Jon Sanz (TS4) ,  7 / 6 6 / 4 A first defeat on Premier Padel for the new Stupa/Sanz association, which nevertheless arrived with the title won at  FIP Gold of Belgrade .

 Íñigo Jofre / Jairo Bautista (TS15)  also created a surprise by dominating  Momo González / Lucas Campagnolo (TS8) ,  7 / 5 6 / 3 .

With the defeat of  Javi Leal / Fran Guerrero (TS7)  Earlier in the tournament, the men's draw has therefore already lost several of its top seeds.

For  Alfonso / Libaak The journey continues with a naturally strengthened confidence. Madrid was supposed to allow the top teams to regain their rhythm after the summer break. For now, it's mainly  the outsiders who are taking advantage of the restart to shake up the hierarchy .

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !

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