Kuwait Major: Sintes and Zamora take out Momo-Campagnolo and break the draw open — Coello-Tapia and Lebrón-Augsburger debut this Tuesday
The Kuwait Major's second day delivered its first big casualty: Marc Sintes and Coquito Zamora knocked out eighth seeds Momo González-Campagnolo in three sets. Stupaczuk-Sanz, Di Nenno-Paquito and Guerrero-Leal all won their openers, and the women's draw began with Collombon's exit. Tuesday raises the stakes: Coello-Tapia and Lebrón-Augsburger make their debuts on centre court.
Redacción PalaComparer · · 4 min read
If Sunday's session was about comebacks with no seeded casualties, day two of the Kuwait Major produced the tournament's first real shock: Marc Sintes and Coquito Zamora eliminated eighth seeds Momo González and Lucas Campagnolo 6-4, 3-6 and 7-5, tearing open the bottom half of the men's draw in the process. The Rafa Nadal Academy Kuwait's big week has its first seed gone before time.
The upset: Sintes and Zamora strike first
Sintes and Zamora struck first and held their nerve when the match turned uphill: they took the opening set 6-4, watched Momo-Campagnolo force a decider and closed it 7-5 with the eighth seeds already sniffing a comeback. The reward is huge: their road to the quarter-finals no longer features the nº8 block, with Jofre-Esbrí up next. Pol Hernández and Manuel Castaño completed the underdogs' day by sweeping past another seeded pair, the nº15 Jiménez-Arroyo, 6-3 and 6-3.
The favourites, no alarms
Above them, business as usual. Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz (4) opened with authority against Fernández Lancha-Diestro (6-2 and 7-6(3)), Martín Di Nenno and Paquito Navarro (5) gave Montiel-Santigosa nothing (6-2 and 6-3), and Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal (7) got past Mouriño-Quílez in three. Tino Libaak and Gonza Alfonso signed the smoothest ticket of the day (6-2 and 6-0 over Moragues-Fonteny), while the dream ended for Aguirre-Lijó's conquerors: Ruiz-López fell to Javi García and Álex Ruiz 6-4 and 6-3. The men's last thirty-two wraps up this Tuesday.
The women's draw begins, and qualifying takes its toll
In the women's first round, the headline was the exit of Alix Collombon: the Frenchwoman and Ksenia Sharifova lost to Noemí Aguilar and Claudia Escacena (2-6, 6-4 and 7-5) after taking the first set. The heroines of Sunday's qualifying round shared their fates: Carrascosa-Fernández backed up their upset with another win (7-6(7) and 7-5), but Dubins-Luttikhuis, of the 3-hour-27-minute marathon, had nothing left (1-6 and 4-6 against Bidahorria-Riera). The local wild cards also crashed on debut: Al Qenaei-Guimet (4-6 and 1-6) and Hasan-Atencia (2-6 and 5-0, retirement) fell to López Díaz-Martínez and Vano-Castillón. Lucía Sainz, alongside Letizia Manquillo, advanced comfortably (6-3 and 6-1).
This Tuesday: the world No. 1s step in
Day three raises the bar at a stroke. On centre court, Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas (6) open against Solano-Pereyra (14:00 Spain time), Leo Augsburger and Juan Lebrón (3) meet comeback kids Belluati-Abud (16:00), and Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia (1) close the day against Italians Flavio Abbate and Franco Dal Bianco (18:00), who opened with a win on Sunday. The women's last thirty-two gets going too: Alejandra Salazar and Aranza Osoro open centre court against Bidahorria-Riera (10:00), with Marta Ortega-Araújo, Tamara Icardo-Jensen, Patty Llaguno, Virginia Riera and Jessica Castelló also in action through the day.
