The inaugural day of the FIP World Padel Championship saw all 16 teams in action in both male and female categories in action.
Qatar’s hopes of punching above the weight by starting with a win at the 17th FIP World Padel Championship came crashing down as the hosts succumbed against Chile in Doha.
Qatar lost 3-0 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex’s centre court on Sunday evening. Favourites Spain and Argentina, however, kicked off their campaigns with straight wins in both men’s and women’s categories.
The premier duo of Mohammed Al-Khanji and Mohammed Saadon Al Kuwari went down 6-2, 6-2 to Javier Valdes and Gonzalo Valdivisio in the starting match, ahead of a decent home crowd.
Despite a brief fightback in the first game, Qatar’s second command Hassan Waly and Jabor Al-Mutawa also fell on straight sets against Sebastian Munoz and Ignacio Lenit.
Having already lost the tie after the 6-3, 6-2 defeat in the second game, the task presented ahead of Qatar’s third duo of Abdullah Al-Hijji and Rayyan AlJufairi was to put something on the scoresheet for the home crowd to cheer on.
However, Chile’s Martinez and Molina – who share the same first name, Cristobal – denied that notion and eventually secured an easy 6-2, 6-1 win against the last duo fielded by the hosts.
With the win, Chile now has two points in Group C and is tied with France, which managed to salvage a 2-1 win in a thrilling encounter against Uruguay.
France won the first game in straight sets, but the Uruguayans came back 2-1 in the second game and eventually ended the match on a sour note with a 2-1 defeat despite clinching the first set.
Another close match saw Brazil edge out Sweden 2-1 in Group D of the men’s category with the South American nation coming back after losing the first set of the third game to clinch the tie. Portugal defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the other group tie.
Belgium also won 2-1 against the USA in Group A, as defending champions Argentina comfortably defeated Italy 3-0.
Another finalist of the previous edition, Spain, also defeated Mexico in straight games for a commanding start in Group B.
Perhaps the highlight of the opening night came in the other Group B clash as UAE came from the back to defeat Paraguay 2-1, winning the last two games 6-2, 6-0 and 6-1,6-0 after losing the first one.
In the women’s category, defending champions Spain defeated Brazil 3-0 as Germany edged Chile by 2-1 in Group A.
All of Argentina, France, Sweden, Italy, and Portugal won their matches in straight games, whereas the Netherlands defeated Belgium 2-1.
