Javier Etayo Fernandez and his padel partner Muse Sanchez Armengol put in a controlled display to take the honours at this year’s men’s LTA Padel County Tour title at Roehampton club on Saturday.
Runners up Alejandro Albiol and Oliver Quarry proved to be a worthwhile test but the final was wrapped up in two sets with Fernandez and Armengol securing the win 6-2,6-4.
Tournament director Paul Lindsay has watched the sport progress while helping promote the idea of having padel courts available to members with an increase now in demand for tournament action.
Lindsay, the Head Squash Pro at the Roehampton Club, highlighted how the eventual winners showed their class through utilising a strong relationship which meant they could weather the storm in straight games.
Lindsay said: “Javier is an experienced player with a Spanish background and a young Spanish guy came over called Muse and they worked well as a pair combining experience and quality with youth which was good.
“Really it’s great to see such strong competitive action, the final itself was gruelling and tight and there was some nice strategic play. But they always looked in control as they had done throughout the tournament yet it was one of the best finals we’ve seen with fine attacking shots and positional play.”
“There was a men’s and ladies’ Grade Four event although the latter didn’t have a massively popular sign-up process because of holidays.
“In the men’s competition, I believe we had 12 pairs and there was a consolation opportunity to help get more matches and give players a better idea of their ranking going into tournaments.
The format was a knockout process which included four byes in the round of 16, as the semi-finals brought a comfortable victory for the tournament winners who dispatched Nicolas Cabrera and Nacho Gonzalez 6-0,6-3 while refusing to drop a set in the event.
In the other semi-final, Albiol and Quarry were both forced to be more patient nevertheless they got the job done in two sets taking the match 7-5,6-4 against Gonzalo Almanza Navas and Javier Corominas.
There was also a women’s event that saw three teams battle it out in a group format with Laura Deigman and Katy Preston earning two wins from their two league games that meant they ultimately topped the standings.
The decisive game came when Deigman and Preston were required to dig deep to fend off the threat of the 2nd placed team Rosa Alonso and Denise Negro in a 7-4,6-4 win for the eventual league winners.
Tournament director Lindsay touched upon the grading criteria in place which has provided a strong platform for those at clubs who want to come and get involved within tournaments: “There are five gradings, it works on a player’s ability and how many courts a venue has, grade one or two you would have more of the top players in the country.
“Grade Four and Five are aimed more for club players and organisations trying to promote the game, we are trying to encourage individuals so they don’t feel too out of depth, it sits nicely within the structure and I think as padel evolves it will give people a better idea of where they should be playing.”
Lindsay also felt that running two successful events at the club will prove beneficial in the long term as there are hopes that more tournaments are not too far away.
He revealed: “It’s our first LTA event and we ran our first external tournament in June with Home of Padel and it was a really good one day competition.
“We will definitely look to host both of these events again next year. For our members it’s on their doorstep and provides experience and match play plus it showcases the club and the sport itself especially being so close to London.
“We had a couple of Roehampton pairs involved but we had different people in this event to the first event, so it’s what we wanted; we were after new faces.”
Link to full tournament draw with results can be found here.
