The Padel Brief
Edition #277 min read
Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia lift the Kuwait Major trophy. Coello & Tapia, No. 1 for a fourth year
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Coello and Tapia Lock Up a Fourth Straight No. 1 in Kuwait

Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia won the Kuwait Major on Saturday, beating Juan Tello and Maxi Arce 6-1 6-1 in the final. It's their 13th title of 2026, their fifth in a row and their 23rd straight match win.

It also settles the men's season. The title makes them mathematically year-end No. 1 in both the FIP Ranking and the Race, for the fourth year running. All week, they gave up 17 games in five matches.

Tello and Arce deserve a line of their own. It was their first final together, Tello's first since Paris 2022 and Arce's first in Premier Padel. A week earlier they had lost the FIP Gold final in Melilla.

Our read: the men's tour has three events left and nothing at the top to play for. The fight now is for the last places in Barcelona.

The women's final was the better story. Delfi Brea and Gemma Triay lost the first set to Ari Sánchez and Andrea Ustero, then won 12 of the last 14 games for a 3-6 6-1 6-1 win.

That's Triay's 59th career title. She came to Kuwait level with Sánchez and Ale Salazar on 58, and broke the tie by beating Sánchez in the final. It is Brea/Triay's seventh title of 2026 and their first final since Madrid.

Unlike the men's, the women's year-end No. 1 is still open. Brea/Triay lead the Race by 2,780 points, with 4,500 still to play for. Dubai, Acapulco and Barcelona will decide it.

Source: Padel FIP, Padel FIP, TiebreakNews

Quick Hits

  • Galán is out, Leal is in. Ale Galán withdrew from Kuwait injured before his first match, and on 30 October Spain ruled him out of the World Cup. Javi Leal, left out of the original eight, takes his place. (World Padel Network)
  • Bea González asks if it's worth it. She and Paula Josemaría led 3-0 in the second set of their semifinal, then lost to Sánchez/Ustero in two tie-breaks. Afterwards González wrote about fatigue, ranking pressure and months away from family. It's the third big event they've lost this year after holding match points. (Padel Magazine UK)
  • The No. 1s sign for Abu Dhabi. Coello and Tapia joined Team Dalma for the 2027 Hexagon World Series, the FIP-backed team circuit replacing the Madrid-only Hexagon Cup. Four stops, eight mixed teams and €1.3m in equal prize money, with the final in Abu Dhabi in October 2027. (TiebreakNews)
  • The youngest pair in a Major quarterfinal. Marc Sintes (20) and Juan "Coquito" Zamora (18) reached the Kuwait quarterfinals, beating the No. 8 seeds on the way. Premier Padel says no younger pair has made a Major quarterfinal. (VibrandoPadel)
  • UK coaches want courts, not pay. In a small survey of 33 UK coaches, 64% named court time or court hire as their main constraint. None picked low pay, and 85% have coached padel for two years or less. (World Padel Network)

Weekend Results

Kuwait Major, The Arena, Kuwait City

Men's

  • Final: Arturo Coello / Agustín Tapia (1) def. Juan Tello / Maxi Arce 6-1 6-1
  • Semifinals: Coello/Tapia def. Libaak/Alfonso 6-2 6-2. Tello/Arce def. Alonso/Goñi 6-4 6-3.

Women's

  • Final: Delfi Brea / Gemma Triay def. Ari Sánchez / Andrea Ustero 3-6 6-1 6-1
  • Semifinals: Sánchez/Ustero def. Josemaría/González 4-6 7-6 7-6. Brea/Triay def. Fernández/Calvo 6-4 2-6 7-6.

Elsewhere: FIP Gold

  • Melilla: Jairo Bautista / Lucas Bergamini def. Tello/Arce 6-1 6-4. Raquel Eugenio / Bea Caldera def. Virseda/Fassio 6-3 6-4.
  • Turin: Javi Barahona / Nacho Piotto def. Contreras/Pineda 6-3 6-3. Amanda López / Camila Fassio def. Polo/Domínguez 6-4 7-6.

Source: Padel FIP, Padel FIP Melilla, Padel FIP Turin

Kuwait Major in Stats

matches
86
of padel
136 h
went to three sets
28
tie-breaks
18
comebacks from a set down
17
6-0 sets
15

The cleanest run. Coello and Tapia didn't drop a set in five matches: 60 games won, 17 lost, in 4 h 31 on court.

The longest match. Sánchez and Ustero's semifinal win over González and Josemaría lasted 3 h 42 by our count. The five longest matches of the week were all in the women's draw.

Tighter, and more lopsided. The women's draw had 39 matches to the men's 47, yet more tie-breaks (10 to 8) and more comebacks (10 to 7). It also had more 6-0 sets, 9 to 6.

The surprise. Edu Alonso and Aimar Goñi went into the round of 16 and the quarterfinals as underdogs, and won both. They beat Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal 6-4 6-4, then Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz 6-1 6-2 in 52 minutes.

Source: The Padel Brief match data

Coming Up Next

FIP World Cup, Doha, 2-7 November. It starts today. Sixteen men's and sixteen women's national teams play in groups of four. Each tie is best of three matches, and the top two in each group reach Thursday's quarterfinals. The finals are on Saturday 7 November, with €1.2m in prize money split equally.

  • Argentina defend the men's title against France, Australia and the Netherlands. Spain, without Galán, face the UAE, Sweden and Paraguay.
  • Spain defend the women's title against Brazil, Germany and Great Britain. Argentina face France, Chile and Belgium.
  • The Kuwait finalists split by flag: Coello against Tapia, Triay against Brea.
  • Women's ties start at 14:00 in Doha (12:00 CET), men's at 18:00 (16:00 CET).

(Padel FIP, Padel Addict)

Then the Premier tour returns. The Dubai P1 opens on 8 November, then the Mexico Major in Acapulco runs 23-29 November. The Finals in Barcelona close the season on 10-13 December. (Gulf News, Padel Addict)

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Did You Know?

20 October is now World Padel Day. The FIP and Premier Padel declared it this year, and used it to renew their push for padel at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Their pitch leans on gender balance: women are 47% of padel players. It's the sport's own day, not a UN one, and there's no Olympic decision yet. (TiebreakNews)

Player Spotlight

Raquel Eugenio

Raquel Eugenio is 18, from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and already 20th in the world. She plays on the backhand side.

In Melilla she and Bea Caldera beat Verónica Virseda and Martina Fassio 6-3 6-4 for the FIP Gold title. It was her seventh CUPRA FIP Tour title of 2026.

A week later in Kuwait, she and Jimena Velasco won a 3 h 01 first-round match against Noa Cánovas and Marina Lobo, the third-longest match of the week. At 18, she's already winning the long ones.

Source: Padel FIP, The Padel Brief match data

Hot Take

The women's tour is now a better watch than the men's, and Premier Padel should start selling it that way.

This week the men's season ended on 31 October with a 6-1 6-1 final. The women's had a semifinal settled in two tie-breaks, an all-time record decided in a final, and a year-end No. 1 still open. Four pairs are trading titles.

With nothing left to decide at the top of the men's tour, Premier Padel should build Barcelona around the women's race. That's where the season is still alive.

Agree? Hit reply.

Number of the Week

4 years

Between Juan Tello's Premier Padel finals, from Paris in July 2022 to Kuwait

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