This Friday, the Movistar Arena witnessed the end of an important chapter in the history of padel during the quarter-finals of the Oysho Comunidad de Madrid Premier Padel P1. Alejandra Salazar, the most decorated player in the history of padel with 58 titles and a Madrid native, said goodbye to her home crowd on centre court as she faced the world No. 1 pair: Gemma Triay - Delfi Brea.
Elsewhere, Íñigo Jofre - Jairo Bautista (#15) achieved their best result as professional players, reaching their first semi-finals on the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour. Meanwhile, No. 5 seeds Coki Nieto - Mike Yanguas produced the biggest upset of the day, defeating Agustín Tapia - Arturo Coello in straight sets.
NOT JUST ANOTHER GOODBYE
This day will live long in the memory of padel fans, as Salazar said goodbye to Madrid in tears as she thanked the crowd for their amazing support. Triay - Brea imposed their authority with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in one hour and 13 minutes. Afterwards, they paid an emotional tribute to the legendary right-side player at the post-match press conference.
“I told her that we are going to miss her so much on this court and that I love her very much,” said Triay, with whom Salazar finished the season at the top of the rankings in 2021 and 2022. “She is a role model for the next generation of right-side players. They will need to watch videos of Salazar to learn how to play,” added Brea.
The Madrid-born right-side player may have said farewell at home… but her story is not over yet. She still has plenty of padel to give the world over the coming tournaments, as she will try to qualify in the coming months for the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Finals in Barcelona, which will feature the top 16 players in the FIP Race Ranking. Salazar currently stays at the 15th place.
THREE VICTORIES TO REMEMBER
The other two major protagonists of the day were Jairo Bautista and Íñigo Jofre, No. 15 seeds, who will experience their first-ever Premier Padel semi-final this Saturday. The Spanish pair overcame in three sets Álex Arroyo - José Jiménez (#14), who had previously eliminated Madrid P1 No. 4 seeds, Franco Stupaczuk - Jon Sanz, in the round of 16.
The match featured one of the most thrilling tie-breaks of the Premier Padel season, with Arroyo - Jiménez taking it 16-14. Bautista - Jofre, however, managed to turn the match around in the deciding set to secure, at the very least, the 360 points awarded for reaching the semi-finals.
It was also a special day for Nieto - Yanguas, who became the fourth pairing this season to defeat Tapia - Coello, following Chingalán, Juan Lebrón - Leo Augsburger and Javi Leal - Fran Guerrero. The pairing coached by Juanjo Gutiérrez produced an outstanding performance, sealing victory in straight sets and handing Yanguas his first-ever Premier Padel win over Coello. Having made their debut as a partnership last week at FIP Gold Belgrade, where they finished runners-up, they have already shown just how much they can achieve together with an iconic victory.
Gonza Alfonso - Tino Libaak (#17), meanwhile, brought the day to a close with a smile. The Argentine pairing defeated another of the week’s breakthrough duos, Flavio Abbate - Alonso Rodríguez (#30), to book their place in the semi-finals. Alfonso will return to this stage after showing an outstanding level at the Cancún P2 a few months ago alongside Sanyo Gutiérrez, while Libaak had not reached this round since the Banco de Chile Santiago Premier Padel P1 2025, when he partnered Juan Tello.
CHINGALÁN SURVIVE THE GUITARRA
FIP Ranking No. 1 contenders Chingotto - Galán survived a superb performance from Paquito Navarro - Martín Di Nenno on centre court. Jorge Martínez’s pairing fought back to claim an incredibly tight contest in which they produced just one more winner than their opponents (56-55). After surrendering the opening set, they responded with a monumental effort to settle the match in a deciding-set tie-break (4-6, 6-3, 7-6).
After the match, the ‘Ratón’ had some affectionate words for his right-side opponent, Di Nenno:
“Martín has been my arch-enemy since we were 10 years old. I really enjoy having him on the opposite side because of the friendship we have and the challenge we set each other; we know we are both going to suffer. Today it went our way by one ball, no more, no less.”
Elsewhere, Ari Sánchez - Andrea Ustero, the No. 3 seeds and winners of two titles this season (Riyadh P1 and Valencia P1), were pushed all the way before securing a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory over the recent Bordeaux P2 champions, Tamara Icardo - Claudia Jensen (#6). The victory was perfectly summed up by Ari’s words to her partner after levelling the match in the second set: “We have to play this well for another hour.” A telling sign of the exceptional level of women’s padel this season.
The No. 2 and No. 4 pairings in the women’s rankings enjoyed more straightforward wins in their respective quarter-finals. Bea González - Paula Josemaría produced one of their best performances of the year to defeat No. 5 seeds Marta Ortega - Sofia Araújo 6-0, 6-2. Meanwhile, reigning London Premier Padel P1 champions Martina Calvo - Claudia Fernández came through against a spirited Marina Guinart - Alejandra Alonso, the tournament’s No. 8 seeds.
THE SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP
This Saturday, the Movistar Arena will once again take centre stage as the semi-finals are decided. From 12:00 p.m. (Spanish time), the following matches will be played:
Order of play
Triay - Brea (#1) vs Sánchez - Ustero (#3)
Jofre - Bautista (#15) vs Galán - Chingotto (#2)
Fernández - Calvo (#4) vs Josemaría - González (#2)
Nieto - Yanguas (#5) vs Alfonso - Libaak (#17)
