The seeds are thinning in Italy. Franco Stupaczuk and Miguel Yanguas, the No. 6 and No. 7 in the world, are out of the Major in the round of 16, beaten in straight sets by Jerónimo González and Lucas Campagnolo. It headlined a day when the form book bent more than once — and when a home player carried a lower-ranked pairing all the way into the semifinals.
Jerónimo González / Lucas Campagnolo 6-4 7-6 Franco Stupaczuk / Miguel Yanguas
On paper this was a mismatch. Stupaczuk sits at No. 6 and Yanguas at No. 7; González and Campagnolo are ranked 14th and 21st. The court told a different story.
González and Campagnolo take the first set 6-4 and never hand back the initiative. The second is tighter, and Stupaczuk and Yanguas force a tiebreak, but the underdogs hold their nerve to close it out 7-6. Campagnolo is solid on the drive side and González's bandeja keeps the higher seeds pinned deep, denying them the net time they need.
For Stupaczuk and Yanguas, a partnership still searching for consistency, a round-of-16 exit is costly on the race standings. The result also prises open the bottom half of the men's draw.
Nuria Rodríguez / Giulia Dal Pozzo 6-4 0-6 7-6 Carolina Orsi / Patricia Llaguno
Nuria Rodríguez and Giulia Dal Pozzo needed all three sets to get past Carolina Orsi and Patricia Llaguno, and they had to weather a total middle-set collapse. After taking the opener 6-4, they were handed a bagel — losing the second 6-0 without a reply — before the decider went the distance and was settled 7-6 in a tiebreak.
The swing was extreme: a competitive first set, a shutout, then a knife-edge third. Dal Pozzo, the Italian, and Rodríguez held their composure when it mattered most, converting the tiebreak to book a quarterfinal.
Nuria Rodríguez / Giulia Dal Pozzo 3-6 6-3 6-2 Sofía Araújo / Claudia Fernández
Then they went further. In the quarterfinal, Rodríguez and Dal Pozzo — Dal Pozzo is ranked 50th — took down Claudia Fernández (No. 6) and Sofía Araújo (No. 8), a genuine top seed, 3-6 6-3 6-2.
They dropped the first set and looked bound for the exit. Instead they flipped the match, taking the second 6-3 and running away with the third 6-2 as the seeded pair's errors mounted. It is the standout run of the tournament: a home player into the semifinals of a Major, having beaten a No. 22/28 pair and a No. 6/8 pair on the same day.
Arturo Coello / Agustín Tapia 6-1 6-1 David Gala / Enzo Jensen
No such drama for the world No. 1s. Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia needed only 6-1 6-1 to dispatch David Gala and Enzo Jensen, a routine hour's work that never threatened to become a contest.
Gemma Triay / Delfi Brea 6-1 6-1 Patri Martínez / Claudia Escacena
The women's top seeds matched them stride for stride. Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea also won 6-1 6-1, brushing aside Patricia Martínez and Claudia Escacena. Two identical scorelines from the two No. 1 pairs — a reminder that, upsets elsewhere aside, the favourites remain firmly on course.
The men's quarterfinals now carry a gaping hole where the No. 6/7 seeds should have been, while in the women's draw all eyes turn to Rodríguez and Dal Pozzo — one win from a Major final on home soil.