Malaga's Bea González becomes the youngest Masters champion in history

The 21-year-old, nicknamed 'La Perla de El Palo', won her first trophy at the highest level of the World Padel Tour in Valladolid on Sunday

Marina Rivas

Malaga

Monday, 26 June 2023, 08:07

Malaga-born Bea González continues to break records in the world of padel, this time becoming the youngest ever winner of a Masters event, the highest category on the World Padel Tour.

The 21-year-old, nicknamed 'La Perla de El Palo', won the Valladolid Masters on Sunday alongside partner Delfi Brea, a 23-year-old from Argentina, after beating her former partner, Martita Ortega, and former world number one Gemma Triay, in a tough duel that lasted more than two and a half hours and went to the third set (6-2, 5-7, 6-2).

It was a match full of ups and downs for all four players who were struggling physically because of their intense schedules recently. González and Brea started strongly and aggressively, seizing the initiative and taking the first set 6-2 with apparent ease.

However, the second set was a different story. Ortega and Triay used strategy, constant changes of direction, balls at different speeds, feints and shots to the body to get back into the game and take the second set 7-5.

But even so, the young pairing came back stronger and González came into her own, bringing the crowd to its feet on several occasions before storming to victory in the third set, 6-2.

A star in the making

By winning in Valladolid, González broke the Masters record set by Ari Sánchez, who achieved the feat in 2019 at the same event (she was also 21 but a few months older).

Breaking records is nothing new for González: she was the youngest player in the history of the world tour to make her debut (at just 14 years old); she was also the youngest to reach a quarter final, semi-final, final and, of course, to win an Open title, doing so at the Madrid Open in 2020, aged 18.

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