Germany P2: Libaak-Alfonso's World Cup comeback and the top seeds' round-of-16 debuts

Düsseldorf is the centre of the padel world once again. The CUPRA Germany Premier Padel P2 — the second edition at the CASTELLO Düsseldorf, with the main draw running from 6 to 11 October and €264,534 in prize money — stages its big day today: the round of 16, 16 matches (eight men's and eight women's) from 09:00 (04:00 in Argentina) and the debuts of the big favourites. In the men's draw, the top four seeds finally enter the fray: Rotterdam's reigning champions Tapia-Coello; the defending champions in Germany, Galán-Chingotto; Lebrón-Augsburger and Stupa-Sanz. And in the women's draw, the top eight seeds make their bow, led by the 2025 champions Triay-Brea, No. 2 seeds Josemaría-González and Paris and Rotterdam winners Sánchez-Ustero and Fernández-Calvo.

The first round, spread across Tuesday and Wednesday, was anything but quiet: upsets, marathons and a story to tell. And above all, a perfect day for two Argentinians.

Libaak-Alfonso's perfect day

Tino Libaak and Gonza Alfonso lived one of those days you keep forever on Wednesday. Just as they walked onto the Castello's centre court, the Argentine Padel Association released its eight-man squad for the Doha World Cup (2-7 November): both were in. It will be the first time Alfonso represents Argentina at a World Cup and he could not hide his emotion: "Today I received one of the greatest honours anyone can receive in their career: representing my country. My life is going to change from this World Cup onwards," he said in a video. Libaak, the hero of the 2024 final alongside Augsburger, is back in the squad.

And they celebrated it on court with the comeback of the day. The Argentinians lost the first set 3-6 to the seventh seeds, Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal — the same pair they had knocked out a week earlier in Rotterdam — turned the second around in the tie-break (7-6(2)) and found the decisive break in the 11th game of the third to close it out 7-5 after 2h23. Today they chase the quarterfinals against Solano-Pereyra: it would be their second consecutive P2 quarterfinal, after Rotterdam, where they even took a set off Tapia-Coello.

From elimination to heaven in a few hours

The other big story of the first round belonged to the kings of second chances: Álvaro Montiel and Dani Santigosa. The Italian-Spanish pair lost Tuesday morning's final qualifying round to Geens-Moragues in a battle lasting over two hours, and in the afternoon they were handed a main-draw spot as lucky losers after Coki Nieto's withdrawal — an injury that also ruled Mike Yanguas out of the tournament. That night, with tired legs, they walked back on court and knocked out the tenth seeds, Bergamini-Bautista, who were debuting as a pair on Tour (7-5, 7-6), in the last slot on Court 3. It is the second P2 in a row in which they reach the round of 16: today they face the veteran pair Sanyo Gutiérrez-Maxi Sánchez, who beat Gala-Jensen 7-6, 6-1.

The rest of the first round looked like this:

• Momo-Campagnolo, the first big casualty: the Rotterdam semi-finalists and eighth seeds fell in their opening match to the new Argentine pair Arce-Tello (7-5, 7-6). Maxi Arce, who also made the World Cup squad, keeps his bid for the Barcelona Finals alive alongside Juan Tello. Today they face Geens-Moragues.
• Esbrí-Jofre win the arm-wrestle: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 against Goenaga-Collado in another two-hour-plus battle. Their reward is today's standout match: Lebrón-Augsburger, the third seeds.
• Paquito-Di Nenno deliver: 6-4, 6-4 against Goñi-Alonso; today they meet the young pair Castaño-Pol Hernández, who saw off Arroyo-Jiménez 6-3, 6-2.
• Garrido-De Pascual's winning debut: Javi Garrido and Juani De Pascual debuted as a Premier Padel pair beating Ruiz-García in straight sets. The reward is huge: Galán-Chingotto.
• Three qualifying pairs remain alive in the men's draw — Geens-Moragues, Solano-Pereyra and Martínez-Hernández — although the German wild cards (Wunner-Lindmeyer, Reca-Tur and Plümer-Hering) bowed out at home. In the women's draw, whose first round was played on Wednesday, Eugenio-Velasco produced the comeback of the day against Collombon-Sharifova (4-6, 7-6, 6-0 in 2h16) and Aguilar-Escacena confirmed their ticket from qualifying.

Today's round of 16, match by match

All 16 matches start at 09:00 (04:00 in Argentina), split between Centre Court and Court 2. In the men's draw there is one striking stat: all eight of Argentina's World Cup squad play today — Tapia, Chingotto, Augsburger, Stupaczuk, Di Nenno, Libaak, Arce and Alfonso.

Men · Centre Court

• Tapia-Coello (1) vs Diestro-Sintes
• Lebrón-Augsburger (3) vs Esbrí-Jofre
• Stupa-Sanz (4) vs Martínez-Hernández
• Galán-Chingotto (2) vs Garrido-De Pascual

Men · Court 2

• Solano-Pereyra vs Libaak-Alfonso
• Arce-Tello vs Geens-Moragues
• Castaño-Pol Hernández vs Paquito-Di Nenno (5)
• Montiel-Santigosa vs Sanyo Gutiérrez-Maxi Sánchez

Women · Centre Court

• Triay-Brea (1) vs Barrera-Montes
• Sánchez-Ustero (3) vs Eugenio-Velasco
• Fernández-Calvo (4) vs Aguilar-Escacena
• Josemaría-González (2) vs Saiz-Talaván

Women · Court 2

• Jensen-Cánovas (8) vs Orsi-Llaguno
• Salazar-Osoro (7) vs Araceli-Lucía Martínez
• Araújo-Ortega (5) vs Rufo-Iglesias
• Guinart-Ale Alonso (6) vs Castelló-María Rodríguez

Today's rackets in our catalog

• Tino Libaak — Siux Diablo Pro 2026from 199,90 €: the 18K carbon hybrid he used to sign his World Cup comeback.
• Agustín Tapia — Nox AT10 Luxury Genius 18K Alum 2026 by Agustín Tapiafrom 169,90 € and Arturo Coello — Head Coello Pro 2026from 142,11 €: the world No. 1s, champions in Paris and Rotterdam, chasing one of the few titles missing from their résumés.
• Ale Galán — Adidas Metalbone 2026from 241,99 € and Fede Chingotto — Bullpadel Neuron 02 Edgefrom 259,99 €: the defending champions in Düsseldorf.
• Juan Lebrón — Babolat Viper 3.0from 189,90 €, Franco Stupaczuk — Siux Electra Pro IT 26from 232,99 € and Jon Sanz — Drop Shot Axion Attack 2.0 2026from 149,95 €: the gear of the other two seeds.
• Paquito Navarro — Bullpadel Hack 05from 284,99 €: Paquito's explosive racket, hunting a quarterfinal spot.
• Momo González — Wilson Endure V1from 151,95 €: the eighth seed and Rotterdam semi-finalist, knocked out in his opening match.
• Edu Alonso — Nox EA10 Ventus Attack 12K XTREM by Edu Alonsofrom 193,80 €: the EA10 Ventus of the Spaniard, also out in the first round.
• Juan Tello — Bullpadel Vertex 05from 208,90 €: the racket of Arce-Tello, the revelation pair of the first round.
• Sanyo Gutiérrez — StarVie Eternalfrom 276,99 € and Javi Garrido — Wilson Defy Pro V1from 186,99 €: two of today's protagonists.
• In the women's draw, Gemma Triay defends the title with her Bullpadel Elite 02from 241,99 €, Delfi Brea with the Bullpadel Vertex 05 Womanfrom 132,99 €, Claudia Fernández with the Bullpadel Wonderfrom 210,95 €, Bea González with the Bullpadel Pearl W 26from 149,99 €, Ari Sánchez with the Adidas Arrow HIT Light 2026from 175,99 € and Ale Salazar with the Bullpadel Flow Womanfrom 139,90 €. Still outside the catalog are, for example, Mike Yanguas's (LÕK Maxx Hype Gen 2) and Coki Nieto's (Kuikma PR Hybrid Carbon 12K), the pair ruled out at the last minute in Düsseldorf.