World number one Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria painfully beat Alejandra Salazar and Paula Josemaria 3/6 7/5 6/2 after 2 hours 40 minutes of play. Both teams lost.
Before this semi-final, Sanchez and Josemaria had lost just ten games in three matches, but today they faced many difficulties against a pair they had never played against. The Queens of the Course were only two points away from defeat in the second set, but they persevered and managed to turn around what seemed to be a bad situation.
Debut with great fanfare for Salazar and Araujo
In the first set, Salazar/Araujo made the first break, surprising Ariana Sanchez on serve. The Spanish-Portuguese duo then confirmed their dominance by taking a 4/1 lead, having amassed a massive 61% of the points from the first five games.
In the sixth game it was Paula Josemaría’s turn to defend the 5/1 serve: she and Ari Sanchez managed to do so, taking advantage of a volley that eluded Sofia Araujo and headed towards the net. But even if we consider them weakened, the world number one accelerates the pace and restores serve late to the detriment of Sofia Araujo.
However, already in the next match, Ari Sanchez again faced great difficulties on serve. Sofia Araujo, the least experienced of the four players at this level, misses a return on the first break point, but then Ari Sanchez makes several mistakes, hitting a shot that costs her entry.
In the next game, despite good resistance from the number one, Ale Salazar did not spare himself to win serve and finish the first set with a score of 6/3. In this nearly hour-long set, the underdogs will score 54% of the points and make three breaks, giving up face-offs twice.
Ariana Sanchez is in trouble
Ау 4AND In the second set, Sofia Araujo loses 0-30, but returns to a draw thanks to the mistakes of her opponents, in particular Ari, who is definitely having difficulties today.
Almost all games are addictive. Josemaría still has to defend a break point at the expense of Araujo, who is caught on a rebound in the corner of the window. But in the next game, showing courage, Salazar and Araujo manage to push Josemaría into an error and take the lead in this set (3/2, serving next).
But immediately the Sanchez/Josemaría duo increased the pressure and took advantage of big mistakes by Ale Salazar to return to 3/3 with authority. After exchanging bad practices, Ari Sanchez, in turn, makes new major mistakes and offers his serve to the 4th seed.
Just like yesterday during the quarter-final loss to Collombon/Rufo (only 11 breaks from 21 games), the four players are struggling to hold their shots, as if serve is not an advantage in the game. padel. Today, out of 16 games played, 8 ended in breaks.
The next match confirms this unwritten “rule”: Sofia Araujo, hit in the chest by Josemaría, gives up at the count of 4.AND during the time his team serves, the total number of breaks increases to 9.
Unusual fouls
Both teams are clearly frantic, and in the next game, where Paula serves, there are even more unusual errors from both sides in the 10th round.AND break on this side with a rather disappointing level of play.
Will Ale Salazar share his experience to conclude his show?
I’m not sure, given the start of the match in which he led 15-30 and then 30-40 after a last-minute defense by Josemaría, who burst into the half left empty by the Spaniard. There was some controversy later and the Sanchez/Josemaría pairing leveled the score at 5/5.
11th AugustAND In the match of this set, an “event” occurs: one of the players, in this case Sanchez, maintains her commitment, allowing the “kings of the track” to lead 6/5 and put pressure on their opponents.
Sofia Araujo, 0-30 down on serve, returned to par but was fooled by a ball that stuck to the glass and then hit Ari’s leg, costing the underdogs the second set.
The break count now stands at 12 out of 21 played, with a ratio of 7/12 in the second set.
Tighten the bolts
Then everything says that Salazar and Araujo missed the opportunity and the Sanchez/Josemaría pair will level the score in the third set. The next two games confirm this: Josemaria holds the blow, then he and Ari break through on Salazar’s serve (2/0).
For the Spanish-Portuguese pairing, we often see Sofia Araujo coming up behind her partner to play a nereza or pick before Salazar moves to her left and sends the ball under Sofia’s nose. A lack of communication that betrays a lack of automaticity in this newly formed pairing, where the right-hander takes up more space than in most teams.
In the third game, instead of taking a point, the Sanchez/Josemaría pair conceded several goals with a score of 3/0, and Ari missed another break (2/1). The lively Salazar/Araujo pair took advantage of the situation and leveled the score at 2/2.
Even if Ale Salazar tries to occupy space, most of the balls go to Sofia Araujo: obviously this is the number one strategy who want to break through the player considered the most fragile. But it is Salzar who serves and, having moved too far to the left, opens a gap in his defense, into which Paula hits a winning backhand. Then Ale’s volley into the net and another break in favor of the favorites (4/2).
Sanchez and Josemaria effectively tightened the screws to build a comfortable 5-2 lead before finishing with a final break – their 16th in the 29-game match – after the second match point.
Read about the tasks of the other semi-finals of the day here:
After 40 years of tennis, Jerome fell onto the padel plate in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves with a shovel in his hand! A journalist from Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.