The Padel Tournament C.D Alfafar Leman Sport trophy was held from September 21st to 27th in the magnificent Alfafar Sports Complex, which has 9 glassed padel courts. The tournament was attended by the best players of the Valencian Community, who will soon represent us in the Spanish Regional Championship.
The tournament, from the preliminary phase, was very interesting in almost all the matches, highlighting the presence of couples from Gandia, Sagunto, Alcudia and the entire province of Valencia. All couples fought for entry into the main draw, which against all odds was achieved by Sagunto’s Inaki Lopez and Herman Zunica, the unflappable Tony Penalver and Luis Parens, the father-son duo Bellver-Bellver, who showed that the Valencian padel has a great future, and finally, the duo from Gandia formed by Jose Vte Just and Ezequiel Latorre, which gave them the opportunity to play in the main draw, beating Lopez-Zunica and embarrassing Lara – Mandrili by wasting match ball.
The first rounds of the main draw went without many surprises: the already mentioned Just-Latorre – Lara-Mandrily match and Vicente Thomas – Javier Calve victory over Joseba Benahes – Alfredo Garcia in two sets. That’s how we got to the quarterfinals, where Lara-Mandrily defeated Fran Plaza-Javi Sanchez in the third set, Juan Senent-Jesus Ramon-Ling beat Mauri Sanchez-Jorge Arechaga in two controversial sets, and at the bottom of the draw, Carlos Morel – Ricky Martinez beat Javi Calve – Vicente Tomas in three sets and finally Pablo Alfonso – Aure Tercero disposed of Santi Solves – Jorge Bellmont. On Saturday afternoon, the semifinals were played in the rain, which left no spectator unhappy, as we were able to appreciate and enjoy the level of Valencia’s padel, which is very healthy. Pablo and Aure had the first surprise of the day, defeating the No. 1 seed Morelle-Martinez in a hard-fought match, just see the result 7/6 3/6 6/4. In the other semifinal, a priori favorites Lara-Mandrily were surprised by a very strong couple of Saint-Ramon-Llyn who played better and won the match with a very modest score of 6/3 6/7 6/4. After what we saw, it was expected to be an exciting final. The only thing that crept up was an uninvited guest – the wind. And all four players suffered from it in their strokes, although there were some spectacular shenanigans. The winners were those who best adapted to the circumstances, and that was Jesus Ramon-Ling and Juan Antonio Senent, who beat the always assertive Pablo Alfonso and Aurelio Tercero by 3/6 6/1 6/0 without giving up a single lost ball.
In the female category there was little influx of couples, although the level was not lacking. There was only one category without previous in federated category and 6 couples of amateur category. In the 1st category we can mention a good result of Ana Sarria and Ana Gomez, who made it to the semifinals, beating Sonsoles Hurtado and Ana Lopez, where they had to cross paths with one of their favorite pairs Lucia Iborra and Elisa Penalvo, with whom they fought and tried everything, but it did not happen, and the favorites went to the final. On the other side of the draw, the practically unbeaten Lorena Figueres – Virginia Sanchez handled all of their opponents with ease until they reached the final, where they again faced the same four players. And once again, Lorena and Virginia won, and I don’t know how many tournaments they’ve already won this year.
In the amateur category, Estefania and Paula won after the league stage, and Carmen and Ana came in second.
In the other categories of the tournament, we can’t complain because there were very exciting matches, some played in the rain, others in the sun, with all kinds of wind.
In the 2nd category consolation match Beto Just and Jorge Mariana beat Jaime Jesus and Roberto Pastor, which is doubly deserved because it was Beto’s second final, who along with Fran Espinosa won in the 3rd category against one of the most charismatic players Pedro IV of Murcia, who formed a couple with Fran Perez. The consolation match was won by Mateo Gandasegui and Kike Gasco.
In 4th category, Juan Carlos Vaya and Manuel Ibañez surprised from day one, defeating the tough Javier de Felipe – Nacho Sanchez. The consolation category was won by Sixto Ayora and Juan Sotos.
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