Indonesia Reaches First Women's Doubles Padel Final in Asian Games History

Indonesia has a guaranteed medal and a spot in the first women's doubles padel final in Asian Games history. Fitriani Sabatini and Fadona Kusumawati beat the Philippines' Danna Abad and Joshea Malazarte 6-0, 6-0 in Friday's semifinal at Nagoya City Higashi Sport Center, needing just 17 minutes to close out the first set and 25 more for the second.

A clean run through the draw

The Indonesian pair has not dropped a set at these Games. They opened with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Japan's Chifumi Sato and Kotomi Ozawa in the quarterfinal, then followed it with Friday's shutout of the Philippines. Fitriani and Fadona won 12 of their 16 service points in the opening set alone and did not commit a single double fault in the match.

A possible all-Indonesian final

A second Indonesian pair, Novela Putria and Beatrice Gumulya, played their own semifinal on Friday against host nation Japan's Saki Tsukamoto and Kae Tokumoto. A win for the second pair would set up an all-Indonesian final and lock in gold for the country in padel's first appearance at the Asian Games. Fadona said after her match that she was hoping for exactly that outcome.

Why it matters

Padel made its Asian Games debut this week in Nagoya, and Indonesia has emerged as the early story of the women's draw. Organizers had not announced an exact time for the gold medal match as of Friday, with the final expected to follow the conclusion of the second semifinal.