• Lucky losers from Spain Ignacio Vilarino and Jose Gonzalez upset seventh seed Carlos and Agustin Gutierrez of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 in 93 minutes
Top seeds from Spain Juan Lebron and Alejandro Galan yesterday survived a scare when they rallied for a fighting win on day two of the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022 being played at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
Lebron and Galan beat Benjamin Tison of Italy and Teodoro Zapata of Spain 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour and 41 minutes in what was round two of the competition being hosted in Qatari capital for the first time.
Also yesterday, Alejandro Ruiz of Spain and partner Franco Stupaczuk of Argentina beat Spanish duo Raul Marcos and Javier Garcia 6-2, 6-1 in just 46 minutes.
Also advancing from round two yesterday were Argentina pair Federico Chingotto and Juan Tello who beat Spanish team Diego Gil and Aitor Garcia 6-0, 7-5 in exactly one hour.
Pablo Lima of Brazil and Maximiliano Sanchez of Argentina beat Spain’s Alvaro Melendez and Italy’s Facundo Dominguez 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 11 minutes.
Argentina’s Fernando Belasteguin and Spain’s Arturo Coello defeated Spainish pair Alvaro Cepero and Sergio Alba 6-2, 7-6 in 94 minutes.
Lucky losers from Spain Ignacio Vilarino and Jose Gonzalez upset seventh seed Carlos and Agustin Gutierrez of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 in 93 minutes.
Earlier in the tournament, which is the first stop of the new world tour, the Qatar Tennis Federation hosted a dinner banquet for the players and officials associated with the event.
Nasser bin Ghanem al-Khelaifi, President of QTF, Tariq Zainal, Secretary-General, QTF, and Tournament Director Kareem Alami were joined by Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation. Al-Khelaifi welcomed the attendees, expressing his happiness as Doha hosts the first edition of the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022.
Qatar player Mohamed Saadoun al-Kuwari yesterday praised the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for hosting the event in a befitting manner.
“We can see that Doha is hosting the event in a grand manner,” al-Kuwari said in an interview. “Doha is keen to provide all means of comfort to the visiting players and officials,” he added.
He praised the LOC for providing ‘superb services’ including transportation and medical services which are arranged for by Aspetar, the region’s premier sports medicine hospital.
Al-Kuwari said: “Padel has global following and in Doha also, there is great popularity for the sport. People of all ages are playing this wonderful sport. I have noticed the popularity of the sport in Qatar constantly increasing.”
Al-Kuwari added: “I can only thank the Qatar Tennis Federation for this invitation and making me part of the main draw. I am happy 40 points will be added to my world ranking and this is motivating for me and helps me improve my ranking and raise Qatar’s flag around the world.”
Qatar player Mohamed Saadoun al-Kuwari (left) with his teammates at the gala dinner.
QTF Secretary-General Tariq Zainal and tournament director Kareem Alami pose with other officials during the gala dinner.
