For the second year in a row, Delfi Brea spent its birthday at the Allianz Cloud. In the stands of the Milan arena today was her whole family, starting with her father Nito who introduced her to padel: first to see Delfi on the court with Bea Gonzalez against Lara Arruabarrena and Julia Polo, then to celebrate. The match that opened the programme on the centre court lasted an hour and 6′ and ended 6-1 6-3: during the on-court interview, however, her sister Martina arrived from behind, with a cake, candles indicating her age (25 today) and the audience singing “Happy birthday to you”. A very sweet scene, with Delfi shaking her sister’s hand throughout the interview.
Celebrating, but with the goal of confirming last year’s title firmly in mind: in the quarter-finals, tomorrow, Brea and Gonzalez will face Aranzazu Osoro and Veronica Virseda (8), with the ‘Vikinga’ still in the running for a place in the Premier Padel Finals in Barcelona. There is only one ticket available: it will be foughted by Osoro, Ale Alonso and Tamara Icardo. Alonso, paired with Andrea Ustero (9), beat Lucia Martinez Gomez and Carla Mesa 7-5 7-5; Icardo did the same with Claudia Jensen (7) with 6-3 6-4 over Marta Barrera and Marta Caparros. Alonso/Ustero, in the quarters, will face Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno (5), who broke the dream of Caterina Baldi and Giulia Dal Pozzo in the morning. Also in the quarters, at the top, are Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernandez, who, after losing a set yesterday in the first round, overcame Sofia Saiz and Marina Lobo 6-3 6-3; tomorrow, the duel against Ale Salazar and Jessica Castelló (6), who beat 6-2 6-2 Noemi Aguilar and Teresa Navarro.
In addition to Paquito Navarro’s and Pablo Cardona’s (5) victory over José Diestro and Sanyo Gutierrez (10), Momo Gonzalez and Edu Alonso (8) also gained access to the quarter-finals, stopping the run of Alex Ruiz and Alex Arroyo, the number 9 seed (6-2 6-4). In the quarters, Gonzalez and Alonso will face Franco Stupaczuk and Mike Yanguas (4), who beat 6-1 6-3 Fran Guerrero and Jairo Bautista.