Today, Season 4 of the World Padel League has taken on a new form. The first three days comprised the league phase, with each franchise playing two matches to establish a ranking from first to sixth. From today, Saturday, that chapter closes: the knockout stage begins, and two matches have been played at the SVP Stadium Dome that were not about accumulating points, but about staying in the competition. First, the Eliminator, between the 5th and 6th-placed teams. Then, the Qualifier, in which the winner of the Eliminator faces the 4th-placed team head-to-head. Losing either match means being knocked out of the tournament; winning the Qualifier means a direct ticket to the semi-finals, which are played tomorrow, Sunday, alongside the final.
The Eliminator: The Realty Cheetahs are still in the running
Jesús Moya and Jon Sanz opened the match with a 6-3 victory over Lucas Campagnolo and Andrés Lancha, but Íñigo Jofre and Javi García struck back with a 6-2 win to level the tie ahead of the deciding set. There, Aranzazu Osoro and Carla Mesa (substitute) sealed the match with a 6-3 victory, bringing the overall score to 14-12 in favour of the Cheetahs.
The Khan Tigers, who in the space of just 48 hours had gone from upsetting the Leopards to suffering a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of the Jaguars, saw their season come to an end here.
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The Qualifier: second consecutive victory to secure a place in the semi-finals
With barely any rest between matches, the Cheetahs returned to the court in the afternoon to face the Panthers, who went into the match as the fourth-seeded team, with the advantage of not having had to play the Eliminator. It didn’t do them much good. Osoro and Mesa, who had already sealed the previous match, took centre stage once again in the first set – the women’s singles – winning 6-2 against Marta Caparrós and Marta Barrera.
The second set, the men’s doubles, followed the same script: Jesús Moya and Jon Sanz beat Juan Tello and Edu Alonso 7-5, extending the lead. And in the third set, Coki Nieto and Lucho Capra sealed the rout with a resounding 6-1 victory over Enrique Goenaga and Rama Valenzuela.
Having won those three sets in succession, VB Realty Cheetahs sealed the match at 19-8 – the most convincing victory of the entire tie – and have reached the semi-finals after having to fight their way through from the most challenging position in the draw.
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