Lebrón-Augsburger rally from 0-6 to stun Galán-Chingotto in Milan

For 23 minutes on Saturday night at the Allianz Cloud, everything pointed to another Coello-Tapia versus Galán-Chingotto final. Then Juan Lebrón and Leandro Augsburger changed the script. After losing the opening set 6-0, they won twelve of the next sixteen games to beat Alejandro Galán and Federico Chingotto 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the final of the Oysho Milano Premier Padel P1.

The result denies the tour the "Clásico" that has dominated Premier Padel finals for the past two seasons. In its place on Sunday will be a meeting between world No. 1s Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia and a pair that only a week ago lost to them in the Düsseldorf semi-finals.

From whitewash to turnaround

The first set was about as one-sided as elite padel gets. According to padel-magazine, Galán and Chingotto won 74% of the points in it, landing 85% of their first serves and winning every point on their second serve. The defending Milan champions, in a city where Galán has won three of the past four editions, looked well on course for the final.

From the second set the match turned completely. Spanish outlet padelspain.net put it down to Augsburger's heavy hitting and Lebrón's ability to solve problems mid-match, while Galán and Chingotto lost precision and consistency. Lebrón and Augsburger took both remaining sets 6-2 and gave the world No. 2 pair no way back.

The tension grew as the match went on. Padel-magazine described Galán as "unrecognisable" in the last two sets, pointing to increasingly visible frustration and a tense exchange with Augsburger, who reportedly refused his apology. There is extra edge to this match-up anyway: Galán and Lebrón spent years together as a pair before going their separate ways.

A worrying pattern for Chingalán

The defeat lands only days after Galán publicly dismissed rumours of a split with Chingotto. The numbers are hard to ignore, though. The FIP notes that this is the sixth time in eight tournaments that the pair has failed to reach the final, and Spanish media point out that it is now three events in a row without one. That all but ends their hopes of catching Coello and Tapia at the top of the rankings this season.

Galán seemed to recognise the weight of expectation. As reported by Tennis Tonic, he said afterwards that "it seems that if we don't beat Tapia and Coello, we've failed", a line that sums up how much the standard at the top of the men's game has risen.

Coello and Tapia Win Milano P1 Championship

The final: Lebrón-Augsburger vs Coello-Tapia

Coello and Tapia earlier beat Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour 18 minutes. It is their fourth final in a row after titles in Paris, Rotterdam and Düsseldorf, and the win took Coello to a record 300 Premier Padel victories.

Lebrón and Augsburger go into Sunday as clear underdogs, but they arrive having just come back against the world No. 2 pair. The winners take 1,000 FIP ranking points, the trophy and the circuit's first ever champions' rings in front of a sold-out Allianz Cloud.

The men's final follows the women's final, which starts at 15:00 CEST, so it is expected from around 17:00 CEST. Red Bull TV is showing it free in Spain, Movistar Plus+ also has it there, and Sky and SuperTennis are covering it in Italy.