Christian Medina Murphy captures first title on British soil at Stratford Padel Club
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This weekend, Stratford Padel Club in London played host to the FIP Rise Stratford event, with the very best British and international padel players taking to the courts.
FIP RISE events are part of an international tour of competitions, the Cupra FIP Tour, with players competing from all over the world for prize money and ranking points.
The men’s draw saw British No.1 Christian Medina Muphy and Spanish partner Alberto Garcia Jiminez take down the all-Spanish duo of Manuel Herrera and Roberto Pastor 6-3, 6-4.
Speaking on their win, the sixth seeded pair said, “It’s so good to win a FIP RISE, especially in London. The level was so, so high, with players playing Premier Padel coming here, and young pairs who are now as well known, like our opponents in the final who performed so well, the level was so tight.
"All the work we’ve been doing every day, throughout the years is paying off, we couldn’t be happier!”
The title at Stratford Padel Club marks Medina Murphy’s third tour title of his career, and edges him closer to the top 100 in the FIP world rankings as he clocks a new career-high ranking of world No.120.
In a competitive draw with top 50 players competing for the title, the women’s draw saw top seeds Agueda Perez Ortiz and Patricia Martinez Fortun defeat Nati Lopez Diaz and Lucia Garcia Trella 6-0, 6-0.
“This was a really good tournament for us, we showed our level, and our game was pretty complete from beginning to end. We didn’t know what to expect when we came into this tournament, but we loved the tournament and the club. There were so many people watching, and we love to have an audience!” said the champions.
Meanwhile, British No.2 Tia Norton, who competed alongside Dutchwoman Stephanie Weterings, had her best performance in Stratford at the club where she started training in 2019. After a strong start, Norton eventually lost out in the quarter-finals to Perez Ortiz and Martinez Fortun in a close match that finished 6-3, 7-5.
Reflecting on the tournament, Anka Mandleson, Stratford Padel Club owner said, “We were incredibly honoured to host this tournament, to have some of the best players in the world choosing to compete at SPC.
"To have Carolina Navarro and Nela Brito competing on our courts, to witness the first UK male winner of a FIP RISE in London, to have such an extraordinary quality of matches at our club was an immense privilege for our team and for our club players. It was fantastic to see the British players supporting each other and doing well, in what was an incredibly high-level tournaments.”
Find the full list of results below:
