All eyes at Olympia London were on Christian Medina Murphy, the brightest British hope among the wild cards at the London Premier Padel P1, and he delivered. Partnering Spain's Alberto Garcia, the world No. 173 defeated qualifiers Agustin Gutierrez and Santino Giuliani 6-2 6-2.
Medina Murphy has reached at least the semi-finals of each of his last five CUPRA FIP Tour events. The win earns him a second appearance on centre court, where he and Garcia face 10th seeds Juan Tello and Maxi Arce in the match that closes the day's programme. Play begins at 10 a.m. local time.
The opening day also completed the men's first round. Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia will start against Portuguese brothers Nuno and Miguel Deus, while Fede Chingotto and Ale Galan, fresh from their Pretoria title, open against Italians Flavio Abbate and Alvaro Montiel. Seventh seeds Fran Guerrero and Javi Leal, finalists in South Africa, meet Mariano Gonzalez and Curro Cabeza.
The longest match of the day saw Denis Perino and Facundo Dominguez beat Valenzuela and Martinez after two hours and 57 minutes.
