It was in a packed Valletta Cambiaso Park that Sofia Araújo finally won her first title in a major tournament on the world circuit. The "Lioness of Lisbon," in her first tournament alongside Marta Ortega, managed to achieve one of her career goals, etching her name in the history of world padel.
Women's Final
In the women's final, we once again saw the world No. 1s, Paula Josemaría and Ari Sanchez, who were coming off an uncontested victory in Rome, face the highly motivated Sofia Araújo and Marta Ortega. Araújo and Ortega aimed to prove they had made the right decision by separating from their previous partners and starting a new project together.
Playing a high-quality match and taking advantage of an off day for the world No. 1s (especially Paula Josemaría), the Portuguese-Spanish duo dominated the match from start to finish. They based their game on Marta Ortega's defensive and point-construction abilities and Sofia's "fighting spirit" and finishing skills. Thus, the 6-3 and 7-6 (1) victory crowned a dream week for the Portuguese and the Spaniard.
Men's Final
The men's final was a match without history. It was 45 minutes of complete dominance by Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan, who left Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia with no capacity to react. Chingotto and Galan delivered an exceptional performance, in a match where they were very close to perfection and which will go down in the history of the sport as an example of how to play. Thus, the double 6-1 victory reflected what happened on the court.
Portuguese Players in Genoa
The presence of Portuguese players in Genoa was very limited and confined to the women's draw. Besides Sofia Araújo, we had the usual participation of Ana Catarina Nogueira and Patrícia Ribeiro.
Ana Catarina and Marta Talavan reached the round of 16 but were eliminated by Lucia Sainz and Patty Llaguno, recent finalists of the Rome Major, with a score of 6-3 and 6-4.
Patrícia Ribeiro and Lucia Peralta couldn't get past the qualifying phase, being eliminated in the final round of access to the main draw by Carlotta Casali and Alba Gallardo (1-6 and 3-6).