Coello and Tapia tighten their grip on No. 1 as padel heads to South Africa

Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia head into padel's South African debut as the sport's runaway world No. 1s, sitting on 21,337 FIP points each after their Malaga P1 title on Sunday. The Spaniard and the Argentine beat Juan Lebron and Leo Augsburger 6-2, 6-2 in just 53 minutes at the Martin Carpena, a seventh title of 2026 and a third straight Malaga crown.

Nearly 4,000 points clear

That win stretches their lead over the chasing pair to almost 4,000 points per player. Alejandro Galan and Federico Chingotto are next on the FIP list with 17,394 points each, holding No. 3 and 4 after Lebron and Augsburger knocked them out in the Malaga semifinals. The gap is wide, and it keeps growing: the Malaga final was Coello and Tapia's 27th in a row.

Triay and Brea rule the women's side

Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea top the women's rankings on 18,257 points each, and they earned it the hard way at home. The world No. 1s edged Bea Gonzalez and Paula Josemaria 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 in a final that ran past three hours before a third-set tie-break settled it.

Next stop: South Africa

The tour now leaves Spain for new ground. Premier Padel makes its South African debut in Pretoria at the SunBet Arena, with main-draw play running to August 2. It's the first time the circuit has staged an event on the African continent, and the standings say the same two pairs arrive as the ones to beat.