The quarter-final of the French Interclub Championship between Home Padel (TS6), reigning French champion and All In Padel Sports (TS4) delivered on all its promises with an incredible scenario in the second match. While the All In Padel Sports seemed to be heading towards a clear victory and a ticket to the semi-finals, an injury to justin lopes completely changed the course of the meeting.

A first match at the top: Leygue / Zapata vs Rubio / Luque

The first match pitted two pairs of international caliber against each other. On the Casa side Padel, we found Thomas Leygue, French number 1 and 96th in the world, associated with the Spaniard Theodor Zapata, 35th in the world. Opposite, All In Padel lined up two renowned players: the Spaniard Gonzalo Rubio (38th in the world) and Antonio Luque (98th in the world).

In a very tight encounter, Rubio and Luque knew how to make the difference in the key moments. The first set, extremely tight, ended in tie-breaker in favor of the All In pair Padel Sports (7/6). In the second, they managed to maintain their solidity to win. 6/4, sealing a valuable victory for their team.

This defeat is a hard blow for Casa Padel, who relied on his two big players to give him the advantage in this crucial quarter-final.

An unexpected scenario in the second match

The second match was between Pablo Lijó (47th in the world) and justin lopes à Miguel Semmler (ex-world top 70) and Laurent Montoisy. Favorites, Lijó and Lopes gradually took the upper hand, leading in the third set with a break advantage (3 / 1, 40 / 40). Everything seemed to indicate that the All In Padel Sports was going to conclude and qualify for the semi-finals. That's when justin lopes collapses on a support recovery, victim of a ankle injuryThe pain is visible, and the game stoppage lasts almost 15 minutesAt this point, everyone thinks that Lopes will have to give up, giving the victory to Casa. Padel. But against all expectations, Lopes decides to resume, although visibly diminished and unable to move properly.

Back on the track, justin lopes stands motionless at the net, barely able to walk. The All In duo's strategy Padel Sports changes completely: Lijo begins to cover almost the entire track, taking huge risks to shorten the exchanges. Lopes, for his part, blocks the balls on the fly that are addressed to him. This approach works at first, since the duo confirms its break advantage, bringing the score to 4/2.

But Casa Padel don't give up. Taking advantage of Lopes' difficulties, semmler et Montoisy and manage to unbreak at 4/3, completely restarting the match. Lopes, immobile, became the main target. Despite a fierce fight, the All In pair Padel Sports finally gives in to the pressure. Casa Padel plays a series of games to finally win 6/4 in the third set, thus equalizing to 1-1 in this quarter-final.

A final decisive match to the advantage of Casa Padel

The third and final match of this quarter-final was between Mario Huete (88th in the world) and Derek Gerson (40th French player) for Casa Padel à Nicolas Molinero (20th French) and Remy Gourre (44th French) for the All In Padel Sports. Favorites on paper, Huete and Gerson quickly confirmed their status, dominating their opponents to win in two dry sets 6/3 6/1.

Mario Huete, as a true leader, took control of the game, covering a large part of the field and imposing a high pace on Molinero and Gourre, who struggled to find solutions to stay in the game. With this solid performance, Casa Padel concludes this quarter-final with a victory which seemed compromised a few hours earlier.

While All In Padel Sports was only at two games to win this quarter-final, the injury of justin lopes in the second game turned everything upside down. This stroke of fate allowed Casa Padel to turn the situation around and secure an unexpected victory.

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 !