Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria take a marathon victory in Brussels

The final of the Brussels Open 2023 will be remembered as one of the most hard fought and couples of the season, no doubt about it. Although both couples deserved the victory, Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria have been more successful in the final stretch of the match, which has been worth them to win the title.

The 3 hours of the match only reflect the fact that both couples have left everything on the court. The “Classic”, as the matches between the two best couples on the circuit are known, faced its 23rd clash on Sunday.

The player from Reus and the one from Caceres were dealt a tough blow in the first set, which fell to Gemma Triay and Ale Salazar in the tiebreak. However, Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaría reacted immediately and, with a more accurate game, managed to turn the score around, winning the second set 6-3 and the third 7-5.

Ari commented in the interview after the match: “We work well as a team, and you can see that on court. We know what it’s like to fight the whole match”. Meanwhile, her partner, Paula Josemaría, said: “It’s been a tough three hours. We fought hard”.

With this victory, Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria have won four of the seven tournaments played to date. This only strengthens their position as the best couple in the overall World Padel Tour ranking.

Since the end of the South American tour, Gemma Triay and Ale Salazar haven’t won a title, losing in 3 consecutive finals against their direct rivals for the number 1 ranking. Ari and Paula first managed to reign in Reus at the Open 500, then at the Granada Open a few days ago and now at the Brussels Open.

The next event for both couples will be the Vigo Open, as neither of the two couples are registered for next week’s Alicante Open.