It was an exhilarating opening weekend of competition for the inaugural season of the PPL! The Miami Padel Club made a strong statement of intent early on the first day of play, winning both the men’s and women’s matches against the Toronto Polar Bears. The Cancun Waves and LA Beat then went head-to-head in a long-drawn battle of intense Padel action, with both the men’s and women’s matches ultimately swinging in favor of Cancun. The final match of the day saw the women’s teams from the Las Vegas Smash and Arkansas Matrix face off, with Arkansas ultimately taking the win. Matrix player Egle Petrauskaite gave everything and more that she had in the match, and, after capturing match point with her teammate Cata Tenorio, her teammates needed to help her off the court due to the leg cramps she was suffering from.
Sunday began with the Arkansas vs. Vegas Men’s match, which had been delayed by rain on Saturday night. With Vegas capturing the match, it led to the first-ever Mixed Double’s Tiebreaker in the history of the PPL, with Vegas taking the win. Meanwhile, the San Diego Stingrays played their first match of the weekend against the Toronto Polar Bears with the Stingrays getting the win in both the men’s and women’s matches. The Miami Padel Club then took on the Cancun Waves who offered some tough competition for the Miami, leading to some of the most exciting rallies and points of the weekend. Miami ultimately took the win in both the men’s and women’s matches. After a short break, the Arkansas Matrix then returned to the court, this time against the Los Angeles Beat. Arkansas won the women’s match and LA won the men’s match, leading to the second mixed tiebreaker of the weekend. The sun quickly faded during the mixed match though, resulting in Arkansas’s favor under the court lights. With both of their matches going to a mixed tiebreaker, the Arkansas players ultimately spent a collective total of 23 hours on court during weekend one.
After the first weekend of play, Miami currently remains undefeated and leads the season scoreboard as we head into weekend two starting May 20th.