Genoa P2: Unlucky but fascinating draw for Cassetta/Cremona!

A hair-raising draw for Simone Cremona and Marco Cassetta at the Genova Premier Padel P2. The two Italians, who for this home tournament have obtained a wild card together for the main draw, they have in fact drawn the No. 4 seeds Juan Lebron/Paquito Navarro (at their penultimate dance together before their separation), for a first round that It promises to be at the limit of the possible, but also fascinating. Yes because in this match our standard-bearers they will be able to test themselves in front of one of the best couples in the world, while at the same time trying to draw important lessons for the near future.

If the draw was cruel for Cassetta and Cremona, On the other hand, things went a little better for the other Italian pair who benefited from a wild card, or the one composed of Richard Sinicropi/Lorenzo DiGiovanni, who will however have a very complicated debut against Gonzalo Alfonso (n.177 in the FIP ranking but since yesterday n.1 in the A1 Padel ranking) and Jairo Bautista (n.37), an unpublished couple which can count on excellent technical qualities. At stake in this match will be the prestigious second round against Arturo Coello/Agustin Tapia (tds 1), provided that the latter beat Moyano/Gil on their debut.

Remaining in the men’s draw, which will start on Wednesday (tomorrow will instead be entirely dedicated to the last round of qualifications), they also finished in the top part Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno (also at the penultimate tournament together), who could therefore be the challengers of Coello and Tapia in the semi-final, but also be careful of Yanguas/Garrido (tds 3), possible opponents of the Superpibes in the quarter-finals, and Tello/Belasteguin (tds 5), inserted in the Bombarderos section. In the other half, instead, there could finally be the first clash since the split between Lebron and Alejandro Galan: if it happens, this challenge will be in the semi-final, but first watch out for other treacherous couples, such as Grandson/Sanz for Galan/Chingotto and Arroyo/Sanyo Gutierrez (in their debut after their respective breakups with Edu Alonso and Maxi Sanchez) for Lebron/Paco. In the same part, there will also be the long-awaited Tolito AguirreThat, always paired with Gonzalo Rubio, will try to do better than the second round victory he achieved at the Italy Major two weeks ago.

It is then to be seen who will be the qualified couples that will be added to the main draw: there will be five in total (four by right and one lucky loser, given the withdrawal of Momo Gonzalez and Alex Ruiz), and among these there could also be the all-Italian one made up of the youngsters Flavio Abbate and Giulio Graziotti (the only two Italians still remaining in the qualifications, while Iacovino/Bruno and Miccini were eliminated in the second round, and Sargolini/Stracquadaini and Cattaneo in the first). After the elimination in the first round of the Italy Major, the Sicilian and the Roman they have been perfect so far, beating first the dangerous Alvaro and Pedro Melendez (6-3 3-6 6-1) in their debut and then today the other Italian Giacomo Miccini and Jorge Ruiz (6-4 6-4), and tomorrow they will have the decisive round against Ramirez (n.89 FIP)/Mena (n.85), with a potentially not impossible challenge at stake in the first round of the main draw (in the event of advancing to the next round, Abbate and Graziotti would then challenge a non-seeded pair).

Among women, however, Carolina Orsi can smile at the draw, the only Italian who will start directly in the main draw. The Roman, paired with his new partner Nuria Rodriguez (n.23 FIP), will debut against a pair of qualifiers, which could also mean challenging right away a compatriot between Carlotta Casali (together with the Spanish Alba Gallardo) and Chiara Pappacena (paired with the Iberian Clasca), as the latter two are still in play in the qualifiers after today’s victories against respectively the Italian pair Stellato/Sussarello (who was therefore unable to take her revenge against Casali after the defeat at the Italy Major) for 5-7 7-6(4) 6-4 and the other blue Lorena Vano together with the Spanish Camila Fassio (6-1 7-5). Tomorrow, for Casali (n.56 FIP) the challenge against Peralta (n.87)/Ribeiro (n.69), while Pappacena (n.76) will play for the pass to the main draw with M. Fassius (n.54)/Eugenio (n.101). Still in the qualifications, nothing to be done for Giorgia Marchetti, who, after the excellent eighth-finals reached in Rome (with a major success in the second round against Carolina Orsi and her partner Carolina Navarro), was eliminated today in her debut together with the French Lea Godallier by Arrubarrena/Polo (6-3 7-6).

Moving on to the draw for the big teams, Triay/Fernandez (tds 3), who will benefit from a bye in the first round like all the other three couples inside the top 4 of the seeds, have been placed in the same part as the winners of the Italy Major 2024, that is Sanchez/Josemaria (tds 1), while the new duo Ortega/Araujo (tds 4) ended up in the middle of Delfi Brea and the returning Bea Gonzalez (tds 2). The semi-finals could therefore be Triay/Fernandez vs. Sanchez/Josemaria and Ortega/Araujo vs. Brea/Gonzalez, but beware of possible outsiders, such as Sainz/Llaguno and Castellò/Jensen in the above part and the new couples Salazar/Virseda (temporary couple) e Riera/Goenaga in the lower half.