Düsseldorf P2: A tie-break seals a third straight title

A 7-5 tie-break closed the door on a deciding set in Düsseldorf, where Germany P2 2026 delivered a third successive title for Agustin Tapia and Arturo Coello. Their 6-2 7-6 win against Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz at Castello Düsseldorf followed their titles in Paris and Rotterdam, bringing their season's title count to 11.

The finalists were meeting for a trophy for the second week running. Stupaczuk and Sanz had lost the Rotterdam Final, but another victory over Alejandro Galan and Federico Chingotto put them back in position to challenge the top seeds. This time they took the second set as far as a tie-break. It still ended with the same pair lifting the trophy.

There had been resistance before that finish. An early exchange of breaks left the opening set level at 2-2, before Tapia and Coello took the next four games. Stupaczuk and Sanz made a more sustained challenge in the second set, reaching 6-5 with the opportunity to serve for it. The title was settled instead by the tie-break, with the challengers finishing on five points.

The champions' return figures help explain the pressure they could apply. Across the men's Final, Tapia and Coello won 43% of the points when receiving serve; Stupaczuk and Sanz managed 33%. The eventual winners had opportunities to affect the contest even when the ball was in their opponents' hands, and the second-set recovery kept the match from going the distance.

“This is our first title in Germany,” Coello said. The new addition to their record came during an already productive stretch, with consecutive trophies in Paris, Rotterdam and Düsseldorf. Unlike a win that requires an escape in every round, their Düsseldorf campaign featured straight-set victories throughout the stages from the Round of 16 onwards.

Their first of those wins was 6-2 6-3 against Jose Antonio Diestro and Marc Sintes Villalonga. Tino Libaak and Gonzalo Alfonso then provided the Quarter-final opposition, losing 6-2 7-5. That pair had made news beyond the draw: their selection for Argentina's FIP World Cup squad was confirmed during the tournament. Their run in Germany also included an opening victory over the seventh seeds, Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal, by 3-6 7-6 7-5.

In the Semi-final, third seeds Leo Augsburger and Juan Lebron could not interrupt the title favourites' progress. Tapia and Coello won 6-2 6-3, following Augsburger and Lebron's 6-3 6-3 Quarter-final victory over Maximiliano Arce and Juan Tello. The top four men's seeds had all reached the Semi-finals, a sharp change from the earlier exits of leading pairs in Rotterdam.

For fourth seeds Stupaczuk and Sanz, the decisive step towards another Final came against the defending champions. After beating Martin Di Nenno and Francisco Navarro 6-3 6-3 in the Quarter-final, they overcame second seeds Galan and Chingotto 7-6 6-4 in the Semi-final. It was another defeat of the same opponents they had eliminated in Rotterdam, although that earlier meeting had come a round sooner.

A 6-4 6-1 Quarter-final win over Maxi Sanchez Blasco and Sanyo Gutierrez had put Galan and Chingotto into the last four. Earlier, Javi Garrido and Juani De Pascual took the opening set against them in the Round of 16, but Galan and Chingotto recovered to win 4-6 6-1 7-5. Their title defence therefore survived one three-set test, but stopped against a partnership building its own sequence of final appearances. Stupaczuk and Sanz had now reached finals in Lyon, Rotterdam and Düsseldorf in succession.

The women's result reversed the Paris Major Final. Claudia Fernandez Sanchez and Martina Calvo Santamaria beat Ariana Sanchez Fallada and Andrea Ustero Prieto 6-3 6-0, ending the latter pair's run of titles in Paris and Rotterdam. For fourth seeds Fernandez and Calvo, it was a second tournament victory together, after London, and their first at P2 level.

Düsseldorf left two contrasting conclusions: another trophy for the men's leading seeds, and a different winning pair in the women's draw. Stupaczuk and Sanz had again earned the chance to contest a Premier Padel title, but their second-set challenge did not change the result. For Tapia and Coello, a week that introduced a first German title also carried a familiar message: the winning run was still intact.

Header image source: International Padel Federation (FIP).