This is a historic first for Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt, France, Portugal and Paraguay, who reached the quarter-finals of the Premier Padel P2 of Gijón. Never before have these six nations had a player among the last eight of a tournament in Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour.

Italy in force with three representatives, just a few days after a weekend marked by the successes of Marco Cassetta, Enzo Jensen, Carolina Orsi and Giorgia Marchetti on the CUPRA FIP Tour. To Palacio de Deportes de la Guia 'Presidente Adolfo Suárez', Simone Cremona (associated with Spanish Jaume Romera), Lorenzo DiGiovanni et Simone Iacovino will have their first experience in the quarter-finals, the latter even being seeded number 2.

On the side of Netherlands, Thijs Roper et Menno Nolten will try to prolong their dream. Born in 2005, Roper plays alongside the Portuguese Joao maria caiano, who made history for his country after the performances of the Deus brothers in Riyadh. A tournament where the finals were broadcast live on the YouTube channel of Cristiano Ronaldo. Menno Nolten, for his part, forms with the French Philemon Raichman one of the surprises of the tournament, having passed the qualifications to reach the quarter-finals.

Europe is not alone in the spotlight. youssef hossam becomes the first player non-European or South American to reach this stage of a tournament Premier Padel. Another feat, the Paraguayan Facundo Dehnike, who will turn 17 on August 21, becomes the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals of a tour tournament.

On the sidelines of the tournament, Luis Enrique, l'entraîneur du Paris Saint-Germain and native of Gijón, sent a video message to all the participants of this European premiere of Premier Padel Tour of the season.

A context which questions the future of the tournament

The controversies surrounding this Premier Padel P2 of Gijón resulted in the appearance of new faces on the professional circuit. The question now arises as to whether the circuit will take this tournament into account in its official statistics, in order not distort the reality of the global levelThe unusual presence of players from nations that are usually under-represented in the quarter-finals reflects both the progress of world padel and a particular context surrounding this edition.

Women's table: Ustero and Alonso create a surprise

The quarter-finals du female painting are also being played today, with seven of the eight seeded pairs still in the running. The only exception, Andrea Ustero and Ale Alonso, who have eliminated Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno en double 6-4A remarkable result, but far from being a real surprise given the talent and performances of the young Spanish women last season.

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.

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