Pretoria P1: Coello and Tapia meet giant-killers Leal and Guerrero in the semis

Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia headline Saturday's semifinals in Pretoria, and the draw handed them the one pair nobody wanted to see this early: Javi Leal and Fran Guerrero.

The seventh seeds earned the meeting the hard way. They knocked out third seeds Juan Lebron and Leo Augsburger 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, saving a string of match points before closing out a 13-11 tiebreak in the decider. Coello and Tapia, the world No. 1s and top seeds, had a calmer route, beating Jose Jimenez and Alex Arroyo 7-6, 6-2 in the quarters.

The other semifinal

Ale Galan and Fede Chingotto, seeded second, take on Juanlu Esbri and Sanyo Gutierrez. Galan and Chingotto dropped a set but got through Juan Tello and Maxi Arce 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Esbri and Gutierrez have been the surprise of the men's draw, rolling past Alex Ruiz and Javi Garcia 6-0, 6-3 to reach the last four.

First tour stop in South Africa

This is Premier Padel's first event on African soil, and it has already produced upsets. The semifinals start at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, with both finals set for Sunday.

A win for Coello and Tapia would push them toward another final and more points at the top of the FIP rankings. For the outsiders still standing, a spot in Sunday's final would cap a breakout week in Pretoria.