Padel
The top seeds in both men's and women's tournaments start the new season with confident victories in Saudi Arabia as the 2025 Premier Padel season starts in brilliant style in Riyadh.
Riyadh, a booming padel hub that's boosting the sport's popularity and growth, hosted the opening tournement of what promises to be an electrifying 2025 Premier Padel season, the Riyadh P1. The Saudi Arabian capital witnessed how the best teams in the world continue to elevate padel to new heights, with both men's and women's top seeds Agustín Tapia – Arturo Coello and Ariana Sánchez and Paula Josemaría claiming victories to continue where they left off in 2024.
Adverse weather conditions delayed the action and the tournament finished on Monday rather than Saturday, as it was originally planned. However, this didn’t stop the best padel players in the world from shining in front of thousands of local fans and millions watching at home.
01
Starting the season in style
The Riyadh P1 served as a glimpse of the outstanding padel action we'll enjoy during the 2025 season, with the players putting on a show despite the highly unpredictable conditions.
During the semi-final match between third-seeded Juan Lebrón – Franco Stupaczuk and ninth-seeds Pablo Cardona – Leo Augsburger, Lebrón recovered Cardona's lefty smash from outside the court and finished the point with a perfect winner at the net.
In the other semi-final clash between top seeds Agustín Tapia - Arturo Coello and fourth-seeded Mike Yanguas – Coki Nieto, Tapia displayed his magic playing with an exquisite drop shot through the door after an insane behind-the-back defensive shot by his team-mate.
In the women's quarter-final between top-seeds Paula Josemaría – Ariana Sánchez and eight-seeded Tamara Icardo – Claudia Jensen, Josemaría retrieved a seemingly impossible ball after her team-mate’s incredible defense to hit an improbable winner.
In another thrilling quarter-final match between fifth-seeded Lucía Sainz – Patty Llaguno and second-seeded Gemma Triay – Delfina Brea, Sainz executed a perfect drop shot that left her opponents no room to recover.
02
Coello and Tapia set the tone for 2025
The top seeds and undeniable favorites, Agustín Tapia – Arturo Coello set an outstandingly high bar in 2024, winning 14 tournaments and establishing an incredible record of 47 straight wins.
The duo were simply unstoppable in the quarter-finals despite the push by the newly formed 10th-seeded pair, Álex Chozas – Alejandro Ruiz. The ranking leaders quickly built on their tremendous pace to secure the win 7-6, 6-2.
Their semi-final promised to be an intense duel against one of the most skilled pairs at the defensive end of the court, fourth-seeds Coki Nieto – Mike Yanguas. Despite Nieto and Yanguas's resiliency, Tapia and Coello displayed their best offensive shots to overpower them 6-3, 6-2.
The final was likely the first of many episodes of a new rivalry between the top seeds and the extremely dynamic third-seeds Franco Stupaczuk – Juan Lebrón. The four stars displayed an elite padel level, splitting the first two sets to forcing the decisive third. Tapia and Coello took advantage of their experience and chemistry – it was Lebrón and Stupaczuk’s first tournament and final together – to kick it up a notch and ultimately prevail 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
With this first victory of the season, 'King' Coello and 'Mozart' Tapia make their intentions clear: to stay at the top of the rankings as the team to beat.
03
Sánchez and Josemaría carry on 2024's winning form
Top-ranked women's pair Ariana Sánchez and Paula Josemaría started the season with a target on their back as the team to beat, especially after winning the last tournament of the 2024 season, the Barcelona Tour Finals. The pair exceeded expectations in Saudi Arabia however and showed they're ready to keep dominating in 2025.
In the quarter-finals, Sánchez and Josemaría left no room for doubt with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win over eighth-seeds Tamara Icardo - Claudia Jensen, already giving fans a glimpse of their intentions.
In the semi-finals, 'Ari' and 'Paulita' encountered fourth-ranked Marta Ortega – Sofía Araújo, a well-established pair that had a successful 2024 season and is hungry for more this year. Despite their efforts however, the top seeds displayed an almost perfect brand of padel to come out on top 6-0, 7-5.
The final against third-seeds Bea González – Claudia Fernández was set to be the first match between the four since González and Fernández joined forces during the off-season. Unfortunately however, González was forced to withdraw before the match could take place due to injury, automatically handing the win to Josemaría and Sánchez.
With this win, 'Ari' and 'Paulita' start the season defending their top ranking, which is looking tough to challenge if they keep performing at this level.
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Coming up in Premier Padrel: Gijón P2
With Riyadh kicking-off an exciting season totaling 24 tournaments across 16 countries, Premier Padel will rest for one week before traveling to the northern Spanish city of Gijón for the first P2 tournament of the season from February 24 to March 2.
With interest in padel roaring worldwide and Spain acting as the sport's main catalyst, Gijón will make its debut as a Premier Padel host, giving fans a new chance to experience the electric atmosphere brought by the best padel players in the world.
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