The Hexagon Cup leaves a mark on Juan Martín Díaz’s farewell

The Hexagon Cup is here to stay. This phrase sums up the success of a competition that gathered the best players in the world at the Madrid Arena to compete for a prizepool of one million euros. All this with the start of Premier Padel just around the corner.

Juan Martín Díaz left glimpses of what he once was, the Superpibes and Tapia and Coello faced each other, and the differences between Gemma Triay and Marta Ortega became insurmountable in a Hexagon Cup that seemed like a mere preseason tournament until the ball started rolling on the 20×10.

Format, presidents, and teams of the Hexagon Cup

The competition, organized by the founders of Formula E, featured six teams divided into two groups of three. Each team was made up of a male duo, a female team, and another one of young talents called ‘Next Gen’.

The three teams in each group faced each other, and the first two qualified gained access to the semifinals. All matches were played best of three sets, with the peculiarity that the matches reaching the third were decided by a super tie-break.

Here are the teams that participated in the Hexagon Cup:

• Rafa Nadal Academy: Presided over by tennis legend Rafa Nadal, it included Franco Stupaczuk, Álex Ruiz, Gemma Triay, Marta Ortega, Daniel Santigosa, and Guillermo Collado.
• Eleven Eleven Team USA: Presided over by actress Eva Longoria, it was composed of Fede Chingotto*, Lucho Capra, Paula Josemaría, Alejandra Alonso, Álex Chozas, and Emilio Sánchez.
• Bella Puerto Rico: Businesspeople María Esteve and Carlos López-Lay led the team formed by Arturo Coello, Coki Nieto, Bea González, Claudia Fernández, Francisco Guerrero, and Rodrigo Coello.
• RL9 Robert Lewandowski: The blaugrana star created a team formed by Agustín Tapia, Jon Sanz, Ariana Sánchez, Claudia Jensen, David Gala, and Enzo Jensen.
• AD/Vantage Team: British tennis player Andy Murray was the president of the team composed of Martín Di Nenno, Juan Tello, Delfi Brea, Sofía Araujo, Pablo García, and Pol Hernández.
• Hexagon Team: The team of the competition’s founders included Paquito Navarro, Momo González*, Juan Martín Díaz, Alejandra Salazar, Tamara Icardo, Pablo Cardona, and Alfonso Rodríguez.
• * Fede Chingotto and Momo González replaced Fernando Belasteguín and Paquito Navarro in the official lineup. The ‘Boss’ is still recovering from his elbow injury, and the Sevillian suffered from gastroenteritis after the first day of competition.

Juan Martín Díaz bids farewell amidst great matches

During the first three days of competition, the group stage was played, where unthinkable duels took place between players who currently team up in Premier Padel.

In the men’s competition, the impeccable version of “Galleguito” Juan Martín Díaz stood out, who competed alongside Paquito Navarro and Momo González.

The Argentine legend impressed the audience again with his ability to win points from any corner of the court. He played three matches in which he left very good sensations despite having to physically compete against the best in the world at 48 years old.

He managed to prevail alongside Paquito against Agustín Tapia and Jon Sanz in two sets (6-4, 7-6). In the second confrontation, he was defeated with Momo González in the super tie-break by Coki Nieto and Arturo Coello (6-3, 4-6, 5-10), while in the semifinals he pushed Juan Tello and Martín Di Nenno to the limit, who eventually won the super tie-break (6-7, 6-4, 1-10).

Precisely, it was the Argentine duo that ended up taking the tournament after winning in the final against the 2.0 version of Franco Stupaczuk and Álex Ruiz. The four players, who swapped the official duos they form in Premier Padel, faced each other twice during the tournament, sharing the victories.

However, in the decisive match, Tello’s hitting power and Di Nenno’s defensive prowess were key to defeating ‘Stupa’ and ‘Captain America’ in the super tie-break, who seemed to play from memory on the court.

Talent assured amidst an unexpected separation

The young promises Alejandra Alonso and Claudia Fernández proved that age is just a number by performing greatly in a tournament alongside players established at the top of the rankings like Paula Josemaría and Bea González.

Both managed to showcase their talent on an imposing stage, signing more than a remarkable tournament reaching the semifinals with their respective teams.

The earthquake came with Gemma Triay and Martita Ortega, who ended up announcing their separation after the bad feelings experienced during the tournament.

Despite winning the first match in the super tie-break against Sofía Araujo and Delfi Brea (6-3, 4-6, 10-6), the resounding defeat that knocked them out of the tournament against the new duo formed by Tamara Icardo and Alejandra Salazar (3-6, 2-6) accelerated this decision, taken by the player from Menorca.

Both will act together in the Riad P1 of Premier Padel and then go their separate ways. Everything indicates that Triay will play with Claudia Fernández, although it has not yet been revealed who will compete alongside Martita Ortega.

In the final, Sofía Araujo and Delfi Brea overcame Tamara Icardo and Alejandra Salazar. The super tie-break decided a match in which the Argentine-Portuguese duo had to come back from an initial 3-6. The backhand player’s hitting in key moments and the most complete version of Delfi Brea were crucial to taking the super tie-break (11-9) against a very solid team that will be fighting for titles this season.

With this victory, the AD/Vantage Team was proclaimed the global champion of the Hexagon Cup by prevailing in two of the three categories of the tournament.

The ‘Next Gen’ are here to stay

On the other hand, in the competition of young promises, the talent of some players who promise to give battle soon against the best duos of Premier Padel emerged.

Six of the nine matches played were decided in the sudden death, including the final. The impeccable version of the Madrid natives David Gala and Enzo Jensen (brother of Claudia Jensen), numbers 64 and 82 of the World Padel Tour respectively, managed to win in the final against Álex Chozas (nº 75) and Emilio Chamero (nº 91) by 6-3, 1-6, 10-7.