The last four days of Caterina Baldi and Giulia Dal Pozzo. On Saturday morning, the two Italian players were in Perugia to play the semi-finals of the FIP Rise, defeated by Emily Stellato and Martina Parmigiani. Then the trip to Milano, which is not close, where a wild card for the P1 qualifying round at the Allianz Cloud was waiting for them. On Sunday the victory in the first round against former world number 1 Carolina Navarro (paired with the very young Jana Montes), on Monday an access to the main draw that already seemed unthinkable, with the double 6-4 to Arellano/Lujan. But the good, indeed the beautiful, was yet to come.
Because today Caterina, who was born in Reggio Emilia and trains in Imola with Filippo Scala and Giulia, the daughter of former San Marino tennis player Francesca Guardigli, who works in Riccione with Carlo Conti (father Paolo was football goalkeeper for Roma), did it big: after being broken at the moment of serving to close out the match and then having annulled five match points at 5-6, they beat the Spaniards Letizia Manquillo and Arantxa Soriano at the tiebreak of the third set (6-2 4-6 7-6), earning a place in the round of 16, where the winner of Sainz/Llaguno (two legends of world padel) against Talavan/Bidahorria, on court tomorrow morning, will be waiting for them. It was such an unexpected and unthinkable victory that after the decisive point of a tiebreak dominated 7-2, Caterina (born in ‘97) and Giulia (born in 2005 and one of the brightest talents of Italian padel) threw their rackets to the ground and one jumped into the arms of the other amidst a long scream of joy. Then, the embrace with Filippo Scala before the warm-hearted comment: “For me it is an unbelievable emotion, I’m very happy because this is a dream come true and I hope not to wake up”.
Next to her Giulia ‘Ice’ Dal Pozzo, for once letting herself go to the joy of a resounding feat: “There are no words to describe what we have done, it’s just the second time we have taken part in a Premier Padel and to make it all the way to the round of 16 what else is but a dream?”. There would be much to celebrate long and late after a padel adventure like this but, no, head down and work: “No celebrations tonight, let’s stay focused, we have another game and we have to do everything right. So we’ll go to bed early, happy but to bed early”, they say in chorus. Then, time machine switched on and it was back to the five match points cancelled at 5-6: “We did it with the heart, in those moments tactics disappear and there is only you, your emotions and concentration. We were there at every point together, united as always and we brought it home”, says Caterina, with Giulia joining in and adding: “The five match points cancelled? In those moments you only think about everything you did to get there and so until the last point you don’t give up, you fight to the last breath to defend the dream”.
Baldi and Dal Pozzo are not the only Italians to have made it through the first round of the Milano Premier Padel P1: on the Allianz Cloud centre court, celebration was also in the air for Italian number 1 Carolina Orsi, who with Spanish Nuria Rodriguez overcame Sandra Bellver and Barbara Las Heras 7-6 6-3. Defeated Giorgia Marchetti (with French Lea Godallier), beaten 7-6 6-3 by Bea Caldera and Lorena Rufo, and the wild cards Chiara Pappacena and Martina Parmigiani, knocked out 6-4 6-3 against Noemi Aguilar and Teresa Navarro.