Dubai P1: Jensen and Icardo knock out top seeds Triay and Brea as Abbate and Dal Bianco reach the semi-finals

Claudia Jensen and Tamara Icardo knocked out the women's top seeds, Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea, 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Premier Padel P1 on Friday 13 November. On the men's side, unseeded Flavio Abbate and Franco Dal Bianco reached the semi-finals, where they will meet second seeds Juan Lebrón and Leo Augsburger.

Triay and Brea fall at the first big hurdle

The No. 6 seeds took the opening set 6-3, lost the second by the same score and then ran away with the decider 6-1. It was the first match of the day on the centre court, and it produced the biggest upset of the women's draw so far.

Padel Magazine noted that it was the first time this season that Triay and Brea had failed to reach at least the semi-finals of an event they played together. They arrived in Dubai as champions of the Kuwait Major and as the leaders of the season race; their early exit gives their closest challengers a chance to cut the gap before the last two events of the year, the Mexico Major and the Barcelona Finals.

For Claudia Jensen and Tamara Icardo, it sets up a semi-final against Claudia Fernández and Martina Calvo (4), who beat Lorena Rufo and Victoria Iglesias 7-6 6-4. Rufo and Iglesias had already knocked out the No. 8 seeds earlier in the week.

Women: Sánchez/Ustero and Josemaría/González on course

The other two favourites had a quieter day. Ari Sánchez and Andrea Ustero (3) needed just over an hour to beat Jimena Velasco and Raquel Eugenio 6-2 6-3, ending the run of the pair that had removed the No. 5 seeds on Thursday. Paula Josemaría and Bea González (2) beat Marina Guinart and Ale Alonso (7) 6-3 6-1.

That leaves a heavyweight second semi-final between Sánchez/Ustero and Josemaría/González, with the winners of the two matches meeting in Sunday's final.

Abbate and Dal Bianco keep the surprise going

Abbate and Dal Bianco, the only unseeded pair left in the men's draw and, according to Padel Magazine, a partnership formed only a few weeks ago, beat Momo González and Lucas Campagnolo (7) 7-6(4) 3-6 6-2. The same outlet reports that Abbate is the first Italian player to reach a P1 semi-final.

Their opponents will be Lebrón and Augsburger, who survived a fightback from Juan Tello and Maxi Arce. The No. 2 seeds won the first set 6-3, dropped the second 6-3 and pulled away 6-2 in the third. Tello and Arce had reached the final of the Kuwait Major last month.

De Pascual and Garrido roll on

Juani de Pascual and Javi Garrido (14) followed their round-of-16 win over Mike Yanguas and Coki Nieto by beating No. 3 seeds Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz 6-1 7-5 in about 76 minutes. Padel Magazine reported that they won 59% of the points in the match.

They will play Tino Libaak and Gonza Alfonso (10), who came from a set down to beat Jairo Bautista and Lucas Bergamini (11) 4-6 6-3 7-6(3).

What it means

With Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia withdrawn before the start of the event and Alejandro Galán and Fede Chingotto absent, Lebrón and Augsburger are the only pair from the top two seeds left in the men's draw. In the women's event, the No. 1 seeds' exit opens the door for either Sánchez/Ustero or Josemaría/González to take a big step in the race. The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday 14 November and the finals for Sunday 15 November.