Overview: The five youngest finalists in World Padel Tour history

LA RIOJA OPEN 2023

Overview: The five youngest finalists in World Padel Tour history

As Valentino Libaak and Leandro Augsburger reaching the La Rioja Open 2023 final, we look back at the five youngest finalists in WPT history!

12-03-2023

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Libaak and Augsburger have shattered many records on their way to Sunday's final at the Super Domo, becoming the youngest couple to dispute a semi-final and a final.

No wild card has ever reached a quarter-final either, let alone a semi-final or a final, beating three former number ones on their way there in Juan Martin DiazPaquito Navarro and Maxi Sanchez.

At just 17 and 18 years of age respectively, the sky seems to be the limit for the future of Libaak and Augsburger, who will face Agustin Tapia and Arturo Coello in Sunday's final in La Rioja.

To put things into perspective, we list the five youngest finalists in World Padel Tour history below!

 

5. Delfi Brea (19 years, 4 months, 23 days old)

When Mapi Sanchez Alayeto injured her shoulder in 2019, her twin sister Majo turned to teenager Delfi Brea to accompany her for the bulk of the season.

In April, they reached the Alicante Open final, where they fell to Ariana Sanchez and Alejandra Salazar.

Sanchez and Brea would go on to reach several more semi-finals but never made it to the last round after Alicante.

It would prove to be a vital few months for the young Brea, who would go on to win multiple titles in the future.

4. Bea Gonzalez (18 years, 7 months, 27 days old)

It is not often you see Bea Gonzalez this far down in a list of youngest players to do... anything. 

Gonzalez burst onto the scene at an incredibly young age, reaching her first round of 16 at just 14 years old. 

In 2020, the Spaniard partnered up with then reigning number one Marta Ortega, and reached the final in the Vuelve A Madrid Open.

Taking on veterans Eli Amatriain and Patricia Llaguno, Gonzalez and Ortega took the title, making Bea the youngest title winner in World Padel Tour history.

3. Leandro Augsburger (18 years, 7 months, 1 day old)

While 'Leo' Augsburger is the older player in the couple of himself and Libaak, he is still a historically young finalist. 

After his team-mate, he is the youngest male finalist of all time, beating the record Arturo Coello set in Miami last season when he was 19 years and 11 months old.

Coello won the title then, and the Spaniard will defend his record as the youngest male title winner ever on Sunday as he takes on Augsburger and Libaak.

Whatever happens on Sunday at the Super Domo, Augsburger has already left his imprint on fans worldwide with his spectacular, offensive brand of padel.

2. Marta Ortega (17 years, 8 months, 26 days old)

Before Libaak and Augsburger turned up to La Rioja and ripped up the record book, Marta Ortega was the youngest player to have played in a final for many years.

Ortega was just 17 in 2014 when she and Lucia Sainz got to the end at the Valencia Open, Sainz operating in the backhand position back then.

Now-retired Cata Tenorio and Marta Marrero bested Ortega and Sainz on the day in straight sets, but Martita Ortega wrote history nonetheless. 

She would go on to become the youngest number one in history as well at 22 years old in 2019 with Marrero, a record that still stands to this day.

 

1. Valentino Libaak (17 years, 7 months, 3 days old)

After already becoming the youngest male quarter-finalist and semi-finalist, Valentino Libaak is now the youngest player to ever reach a World Padel Tour final.

A perfect foil for Augsburger's gung-ho style of all-out attack padel, Libaak already possesses great defensive game from the back at the court as well as offensive tools. 

Libaak and Augsburger are yet to concede a single set in the La Rioja Open, and astonishingly, their service games have only been broken once in the entire event.

Only time will tell whether the wild cards can go all the way and win the title on Sunday, but the La Rioja Open 2023 has already become a tournament no World Padel Tour fan will ever forget.

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