The desire to be on the court stronger than the tiredness from the long journey. Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez were just in time to take off the sombrero they wore at the award ceremony of the Acapulco Major (with the final played in the night between Sunday and Monday): the intercontinental flight, the arrival in Italy and immediately the first embrace of the people of the Allianz Cloud. In the first round of the Milano Premier Padel P1, a bit of jet lag was unavoidable, but Gemma and Claudia – world champions with the Spanish national team in Doha and winners of five titles in pairs this season, including the Major in Mexico – after conceding the second set to qualified Raquel Eugenio and Martina Fassio, resumed their gear, earning (6-3 4-6 6-0) access to the round of 16, where they will be awaited tomorrow by Sofia Saiz and Marina Lobo, fresh from the four-hour marathon against Virginia Riera and Marta Borrero, perhaps even more tiring than the Acapulco-Milan flight.
“We arrived a few hours ago, but we are overjoyed to play such a special tournament in front of this wonderful audience”, were the words of Gemma and Claudia, who are completing a season that has seen them join forces in a bi-generational “pareja”: the experience of Triay, the emerging talent of Fernandez, who celebrated her 18th birthday in February.
Respectively number 3 and number 4 in the FIP ranking, Gemma and Claudia will be just some of the stars expected on Thursday at the Allianz Cloud, with the tournament really coming into its own. Play will continue for the title but also to fill in the missing slots for the Barcelona Premier Padel Finals: there are two spots still to be filled in the men’s draw and, in this sense, the direct clash between Pablo Cardona (paired with Paquito Navarro) and Sanyo Gutierrez (playing with José Diestro) will exclude the loser from the race. On the other hand, there is still one slot left in the women’s draw: to contend for it, another crystal-clear talent like Ale Alonso, Aranzazu Osoro and Tamara Icardo, all of whom will play on the ‘pista’ in Milan, with the programme starting at 10 a.m. (three matches in the morning session on the centre court) and at 6 p.m. (three matches in the evening session). Awaiting the fans will be all the world padel stars.