Malaga P1 winners (Photo Premier Padel)
Delfina Brea Senesi-Gemma Triay Pons took out second seeds Bea González-Paula Josemaría Martín in a women’s classic duel to win the Málaga P1 event as fellow top seeds Arturo Coello-Agustín Tapia reeled off their fifth 2026 Premier Padel men’s title in a row.
Brea-Triay went into the competition with 2026 Major and P2 titles, but no P1 title and they gained the upper hand by taking the first set 7-5. González-Josemaría, though, dug deep to level 6-3 in the second before the top seeds held their nerve to win the deciding tiebreak 7-3.
After three hours and eight minutes of action, Brea, 26, said: “There were four winners out on court today; it would have been unfair to pick just one winner because I think we put on a real spectacle, a great show and a padel match that I hope you all enjoyed. We said today that if we lost, we’d still leave with a hug because we deserved it – fighting until the very end.”
Brea-Triay did not drop a set in reaching the final, the duo seeing off the fifth and sixth seeds en route to the Sunday clash. Down the bottom of the draw, González-Josemaría were also in imperious form as they only dropped 15 games to set up another battle.
Local hero González was looking to repeat her emotional title win from last year after a rocky spell this season following their electric start to the season, which saw them win five titles. It was not to be, though, despite battling bravely with Josemaría right until the end.
Triay, 34, added: “We’re really happy. It was a mental battle. We’re well aware that Paulita and Bea are playing at an incredible level; if we’re not 100 per cent on our game, we won’t pull off the win. We knew that if we wanted to win the third set, we had to dig deep again.”
The men’s event was not all plain sailing for Coello-Tapia as 11th seeds Eduardo Alonso-Aimar Goñi Lacabe pushed them deep into a third set in the quarter-finals before normal service resumed in the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-3 win over sixth seeds Martín Di Nenno-Paquito Navarro.
Juan Lebrón-Leandro Augsburger did not drop a set in reaching Saturday’s last four where they met second seeds Alejandro Galán-Fede Chingotto, who claimed the first set 6-2. Third seeds Lebrón-Augsburger, though, reset and hit back superbly to eke out a gutsy 6-3 7-6 (9-7) win.
Sunday’s final was Lebrón-Augsburger’s third together, but they had no answer to the power and poise of Coello-Tapia who raced to a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 53 minutes. It was their fifth 2026 title in a row with Tapia up to 60 career titles – the most of an active player.
After spending time with fellow Argentine and former NBA basketball star Manu Ginóbili on Saturday ahead of the final, Coello, 24, said: “It’s a city I’m incredibly fond of. It’s been a really, really good final against a couple like Lebrón and Augsburger, who’ve played a brilliant tournament.”
Tapia, 26, added: “There were so many emotions. It’s true that the last final against them (Brussels P2 in April) didn’t go well for us, so we came into this with that niggling feeling and a real desire to turn that result around. So today, everything we set out to do worked out.”
The players now have a week off before they tackle the Pretoria P1 event in South Africa from July 27 until August 2.
