The 3rd day of competition started really early for the UK team. Wake up call was at 7:15 am and after a good breakfast at the residence canteen, all took the bus to the Club de Padel El Real . As always the team did their warm up exercises and at 9 am the first two boys went on court. Today they were going to play Portugal. The Portuguese are not considered to be one of the top teams but it turned out that they were better than expected…
First up were Tom Lynk and Frankie Batt in the under 14s . They had to play Lucas Bergamini and Felipe Matos. These Brazilian boys had a very solid game and were strong right from the first point. Even though Tom and Franky played really well, they did not achieve to win more than one game in each set. The opponents´ volleys and smashes were aggressive and way too effective. Still, the match was enjoyed by all and our lads can be proud of themselves.
The next match was in the under 16s.Charly Ferguson and Franky Langan had an absolute great fight against their opponents Felipe Furghestti and Gabriel Almeida . The points were long and dramatic and Charly and Franky played their best. Lobbing the Brazilians was more than difficult as Gabriel Almeida is 1.95m tall .Their fan club was cheering on the benches and even managed to initiate the famous “la ola” on the benches. On and off court everyone seemed to really enjoy what was happening. Charly and Franky lost 2/6 , 2/6 but got off court knowing they had done the best they could.
Alex Tom & Tom Lynk with the Portuguese
Danny Bristow and Andy Lynk then played Gabriel Dal´ri and Lucas Venturin in yet another fantastic match. They played clever , seldom rushed their shots and were concentrated at (almost) all times. They made their opponents work very hard for every point but, in the end, t lost the match by 1/6 , 2/6. With a bit more luck the score could´ve been much closer.
After the team competition everyone headed to the “El Fuerte” club for lunch but today not all were able to have a good rest before the afternoon matches of the Open competition.
At 2 pm Alex Tom and Tom Lynk had to be back on court to face the Portuguese Francisco Pereira and Hugo Soarez. The Portuguese started out quite strong and it was a hard battle for our boys to finally win the first set 6/3. It then seemed that the Portuguese had not only lost the set but also their confidence for the rest of the match which resulted in a second set 6/0 win for Tom and Alex. Congratulations champs !!
In the afternoon the 3rd round of the Open competition was played…
Charlie, Franky and the Brazilians
The first UK one was played by Danny Bristow and Andy Link. Their opponents were Lucas Campagnolo and Lucas Bergamini from Brazil. Both Andy and Danny were in top form and surprised their rivals with their extremely good defense. Still the English boys did not manage to take a game off the Brazilians even though most points were long and hard work for both sides of the court. The 2 Lucas´ just proved to be the more experienced tournament players which reflected in their making the points when it really counted.
While that match was going on at the “ Real Club” little Frankie Batt and Alex Saenz were at the other end of Melilla defending themselves against the highest under 14´s of Spain, Fernando Romero y Curro Soriano. Unfortunately our boys did not have a chance against these two fantastic players . Even though they had a lot of deuces and some advantages in their favor, Frankie and Alex were only able to turn one of those cases into winning the game. They lost in two straight sets 0/6 , 1/6 but came off court smiling and saying that they had felt honored to have had the chance to play against these Spanish champs.
Franky Langan and Charly Ferguson were the next ones on court taking on the Mexicans Alejandro Fernandez and Diego Salazar. Our boys started out with a break against them early in the 1st set and seemed not to find their rhythm. The first set went to the Mexicans 6/2. In the second set the match was much more even and the points got longer and longer. Even though Charlie and Franky managed to go into a lead of 5/2 , the match turned around and was lost by the UK team 7/5 in the second. They almost could have had them ….
Padel mums
Dylan Casciaro and Ivan Gomez played the last match of the day and had an almost impossible task ahead . Their opponents were the Spaniards Cayetano Roquefort y Ernesto Moreno, two very experienced tournament players who are one of the top 4 couples in Spain. The match did not last very long and went to the Spaniards 6/0 ,6/0 .
In the evening all players of the competition were invited, together with their parents & friends, to see a local basketball match which turned out to be a nice event and which took their minds off the padel for at least … an hour.
