Stupaczuk and Sanz make a winning start in Belgrade

Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz ended their first tournament together by beating the men they had recently played alongside. Their straight sets victory over Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas in Sunday's FIP Gold Belgrade final gave the new partnership an immediate title, with 150 ranking points and fourth seeding at the Paris Major to take away from Serbia. Their opening week had produced something useful well beyond the trophy presentation.

Belgrade had offered a timely place to begin. The main draw opened on Wednesday at the Padel Center Belgrade Waterfront, allowing the pair to play through a tournament before joining the Premier Padel schedule in Madrid. There is a difference between preparing together and having a result depend on the partnership. By reaching Sunday's final, they had been able to work through successive rounds with another match waiting after each victory.

The four finalists arrived with their histories closely connected. Stupaczuk had been playing with Yanguas, while Sanz's previous partner was Nieto. Across the net was a reunion, because Nieto and Yanguas had also played together in 2025. That gave the match an interest beyond the usual meeting of leading contenders. Each man faced a former teammate, and the two new combinations had an early opportunity to measure themselves against one another.

Stupaczuk and Sanz were already established players when they joined forces. The tournament organisers listed the Argentine seventh in the FIP ranking and the Spaniard 12th ahead of the event. Their individual standing brought expectations with it, even before they had played a competitive match as a pair. Winning in Serbia means the next stage can begin with a shared result behind them, rather than relying entirely on what each has achieved with somebody else.

An early indication came against Gustavo Nunes and Pedro Perry, whom they beat six games to three, six to two to reach the quarter finals. Progress at that stage mattered for the time it gave them together as much as for the result itself. A new partnership that goes out early has to wait for the next draw to resume its work. Stupaczuk and Sanz stayed in the competition until there was no further round to play.

The most immediate consequence will be visible beside their names in Paris. Holding fourth seeding keeps them away from the first three seeded pairs until the semi finals, should they advance that far. That is a useful advantage for a partnership still at the beginning of its competitive life. It leaves plenty of difficult opponents available in earlier rounds, but removes the possibility of meeting one of those three pairs in a quarter final.

Madrid's draw, published before the Belgrade final, shows the distinction. Stupaczuk and Sanz are fourth seeds, with Momo González and Lucas Campagnolo their projected quarter final opponents. Nieto and Yanguas are fifth and sit in the section containing Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia. Those meetings depend on the intervening results, but the placement shows why small differences near the top of the seedings deserve attention.

The men's tour rulebook bases seeding on the players' combined ranking at the time of the draw. Changing partners therefore changes the calculation, and a result earned together can affect where the new combination will sit at its next tournament.

Sanz and Nieto have a significant title in their shared history. They won the Premier Padel Finals in December 2024, saving two match points against Coello and Tapia before ending the leading pair's run of 47 consecutive wins. Sanz and Nieto recovered from losing the first set to take the final in three, adding the Barcelona trophy to their earlier victory in Bordeaux. Those achievements help put Sunday's meeting in context. Sanz was beginning a partnership with Stupaczuk against a player with whom he had already won the last match of a Premier Padel season.

Stupaczuk had already experienced a successful CUPRA FIP Tour week this season, winning the Platinum event in Tirana with Yanguas in May. They beat David Gala and Enzo Jensen in three sets there, having previously finished runners up at the Newgiza P2. That earlier title belongs to a partnership which has now ended, but it helps explain the familiarity in Belgrade's final. Stupaczuk was facing someone with whom he had already won a tournament this year.

His assessment afterwards was encouraging without trying to turn one week into a verdict on the rest of the season. “I'm very happy with the understanding we have developed,” he said. Madrid now brings their first Premier Padel appearance together, with Paris a week later. They have an early opportunity to build on Belgrade.

For those following the tour towards Dubai in November, this is an early result worth carrying into the autumn. The partnerships competing for position are still developing, and the consequences of their summer choices are beginning to appear in draws and results. Stupaczuk and Sanz have made their first week count. Their next task is to keep earning the later rounds where that fourth seeding can become most valuable.