Sánchez and Ustero win longest match in Premier Padel history

Ariana Sánchez and Andrea Ustero survived a semifinal that kept bending for more than four hours, beating Paula Josemaría and Bea González 5-7, 7-6(8), 7-6(6) at Rome’s Foro Italico Centre Court in the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel. The 4-hour, 12-minute battle became the longest match in Premier Padel history and sent Sánchez and Ustero into their first final since the Gijon P2.

The numbers told the story of a match that turned on endurance as much as execution. Sánchez and Ustero saved four match points, won the last two tiebreaks by the smallest margins, and finished with a 130-123 points edge after a second set that lasted 95 minutes. The previous Premier Padel duration mark, exactly four hours at Milano P1 in 2024, fell as the women’s semifinal stretched into territory that tested every rally, every hold of serve and every reset after a swing in momentum.

Josemaría and González arrived in Rome on a 22-match winning streak and with five straight titles behind them, but the marathon ended that run and delivered their first defeat in almost three months. For long stretches, the match looked poised to turn on a single point: a saved break, a defended match point, one more return that barely landed. Instead, the semifinal kept resetting itself, with Sánchez and Ustero repeatedly dragging it back into reach before closing it out in the decisive tiebreak.

For Sánchez and Ustero, the win marked their third final of the 2026 season and added another layer to a women's draw that has been producing longer, tighter, and more punishing matches at the top end. The rest of the tournament kept its own heavyweight shape, with Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea in the women’s final and Arturo Coello with Agustín Tapia, plus Alejandro Galán with Federico Chingotto, moving into another Superclásico final in the men’s bracket.