October 1, 2026
A three-set epic in the women's draw produced the round's highest scorers, while the men's favourites barely broke a sweat
Rotterdam handed us a Round of 16 that was equal parts ruthless and riveting. The top seeds on both sides of the draw did what top seeds are supposed to do — but the fantasy story of the day was written by Virginia Riera and Julieta Evangelina Bidahorria, who dragged Marina Guinart and Alejandra Alonso De Villa through three brutal sets and came out the other side with a jaw-dropping 49.3 fantasy points each. Nobody else in either draw came close.
The men's bracket was, frankly, a procession for most of the big pairs. Agustin Tapia and Arturo Coello opened with a 6-3 6-2 dismantling of Alvaro Montiel Caruso and Daniel Santigosa — clean, efficient, utterly dominant. Both walked away with 16.8 FP each, which sounds modest until you remember they're playing at a ranking multiplier well below 1.0. That's the tax you pay for being the best. Alejandro Galan and Federico Chingotto were equally ruthless, swatting Enzo Jensen and David Gala aside 6-0 6-2, earning 24.3 FP apiece. Jensen and Gala finished on -14.1 each — ouch. Martin Di Nenno and Francisco Navarro were similarly merciless against Teodoro Zapata and Adrian Naranjo Martinez, a 6-0 6-3 hiding that left the losing pair on -10.1 FP and handed Di Nenno and Navarro a very healthy 24.7 each.
The match of the men's round, without question, was Tino Libaak and Gonzalo Alfonso grinding out a 7-5 3-6 6-4 win over Francisco Guerrero and Javier Leal. Three sets, traded blows, and Libaak finished as the top male scorer of the round with 29.2 FP — Alfonso not far behind at 23.4. The ranking multiplier boost for lower-ranked players doing this kind of work in a tight match is exactly where fantasy gold gets mined. Jon Sanz wasn't far off Libaak's total either: he and Franco Stupaczuk demolished Pol Hernandez and Manuel Castaño 6-2 6-2, with Sanz banking 27.7 FP and Stupaczuk 23.0. Leo Augsburger also had a tidy night next to Juan Lebron, winning 6-1 7-6(7) against Arce and Tello — Augsburger's 24.3 FP was excellent value for a player costing just 119.7 credits. Miguel Yanguas and Jorge Nieto edged a tight two-setter over Francisco Gil and Pablo Lijo, with Yanguas (13.7) and Nieto (15.6) advancing quietly but comfortably.
| # | Player | FP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tino Libaak | 29.2 |
| 2 | Jon Sanz | 27.7 |
| 3 | Martin Di Nenno | 24.7 |
| 4 | Francisco Navarro | 24.7 |
| 5 | Leo Augsburger | 24.3 |
The women's draw delivered the most dramatic match of the entire round. Virginia Riera and Julieta Bidahorria were taken to the absolute wire by Marina Guinart and Alejandra Alonso De Villa — 3-6 7-6(3) 3-6, a proper rollercoaster — and came out 49.3 FP richer each. That number isn't just the top women's score of the round, it's the top score, full stop, across both draws. Three sets, a tiebreak, lower-ranked underdogs pulling off a scrappy win — every factor that inflates fantasy output was working in their favour simultaneously. Claudia Escacena Montero also had a standout night, racking up 43.4 FP alongside Claudia Jensen (23.2) as they beat Lorena Rufo Ortiz and Victoria Iglesias Segador in straight sets. Escacena's stats bonus of 7 points was the highest in any of the breakdowns — she was clearly doing damage on the details.
Gemma Triay Pons and Delfina Brea Senesi were ice-cold in the way only the world's top pair can be, beating Marta Talavan and Jessica Castello Lopez 6-1 6-3 for 19.2 FP each. Efficient, not spectacular — but they're through. Alejandra Salazar and Aranzazu Osoro Ulrich had the second-best three-set battle of the women's draw, eventually grinding down Marta Barrera and Jana Montes 5-7 7-5 1-6 — Osoro's 26.2 FP was quietly excellent. Beatriz Gonzalez Fernandez and Paula Josemaria Martin dispatched Sharifova and Collombon in straight sets to claim 18.4 FP apiece, while Marta Ortega Gallego and Sofia Araujo beat Godallier and Valenzuela 6-3 7-5 for 18.5 and 17.3 FP respectively. Martina Calvo and Claudia Fernandez advanced via a retirement from Caldera and Goenaga — 20.2 and 17.4 FP in a single completed set. Fortuitous? Yes. Still counts.
| # | Player | FP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia Riera | 49.3 |
| 2 | Julieta Evangelina Bidahorria | 49.3 |
| 3 | Claudia Escacena Montero | 43.4 |
| 4 | Aranzazu Osoro Ulrich | 26.2 |
The pattern this round is absolutely clear: three-set matches are where fantasy fortunes are made. Riera and Bidahorria's 49.3 FP each versus Libaak's 29.2 FP for a three-set men's win tells you the women's ranking multipliers and difficulty coefficients are working harder right now. Escacena Montero's 43.4 FP from a straight-sets win — built on a massive stats bonus of 7.0 — shows that how you win matters as much as the result. She won cleanly but she won actively, racking up aces and converted break points that the system rewards generously.
The losers in the blowouts were brutal for fantasy lineups. Anyone holding Jensen, Gala, Zapata, or Naranjo Martinez was torched — -14.1 FP per player for Jensen and Gala is the kind of score that derails a round. On the flip side, the mid-ranked winners like Augsburger (24.3 FP, costs just 119.7 credits) and Sanz (27.7 FP, 122.9 credits) are screaming value. These are guys delivering top-five round scores at bottom-third prices.
Let's break down exactly how Virginia Riera and Julieta Bidahorria landed on 49.3 FP — because it's a masterclass in how the scoring system rewards the right kind of win. Start with the Round of 16 base: 10 points. They won, so that jumps to 14 (the +4 win bonus). Then add 7.7 for game score — that reflects the fact that a three-set match with a tiebreak, ultimately won, generates strong positive game margin data even when you drop a set. Stats bonus adds another 5.0 on top, giving a subtotal of 26.7. Now the multipliers kick in. Their ranking multiplier is 1.12 — they're below the elite tier, so the system boosts their output rather than penalising it. That takes 26.7 to 29.9. Then comes the difficulty coefficient of 1.65, which reflects how genuinely competitive that match was — three sets, a tiebreak, a tough opponent pair. Multiply 29.9 × 1.65 and you land exactly on 49.3. Every piece of that score was earned.
Now compare that to Claudia Escacena Montero's 43.4 FP from a straight-sets win. Same round base of 10, same win bonus to 14. But her game score was 5.2 rather than 7.7 — the match was less competitive across sets — while her stats bonus was actually higher at 7.0, the biggest of any breakdown this round. Her subtotal comes to 26.2, the ranking multiplier of 1.12 pushes that to 29.3, and then a difficulty coefficient of 1.48 (a solid but not three-set-thriller level of difficulty) brings her to 43.4 FP. She essentially swapped competitive-match points for stat-performance points. That's the nuance right there: you can reach elite FP totals through dominant serving and break-point conversion even in a straight-sets win, as long as the difficulty coefficient cooperates. Both routes work. Know which one your picks are likely to take.
💰 Lock in Federico Chingotto — at 193.7 credits he's expensive, but his season average of 113.4 FP leads all men in this tournament and 0.59 FP/credit is the best value among the elite male picks. He and Galan looked merciless against Jensen/Gala. Don't overthink it.
🔥 Target Martina Calvo Santamaria as a high-upside pick — she costs just 115.5 credits, averages 78.5 FP per season, and at 0.68 FP/credit she's the best value among the advancing women. She advanced via retirement this round which limits read-through, but her underlying numbers are excellent going deeper into the draw.
📊 Juan Lebron is quietly underpriced — 136.7 credits for a 89.1 FP season average gives you 0.65 FP/credit, the best value among the advancing male elite. He and Augsburger had a comfortable win and are well-placed in the draw. Augsburger himself (119.7 credits, 24.3 FP this round) is a low-cost bonus if budget allows.
⚠️ Be careful holding Jon Sanz — yes, he posted 27.7 FP this round, but his season average of 52.1 FP and 0.42 FP/credit value is the weakest among the advancing men. He's only worth the spot if you believe Stupaczuk/Sanz have a soft quarterfinal path. If the draw toughens, the ceiling drops fast.
🏆 49.3 FP and counting — Virginia Riera and Julieta Bidahorria were the round's standout performers, turning a brutal three-set grind into the biggest fantasy haul of the day in either draw
💥 Blowout bloodbath in the men's draw — Jensen and Gala lost 0-6 2-6 to Galan and Chingotto and paid the price with -14.1 FP each, while Zapata and Naranjo Martinez also posted -10.1 from their 0-6 3-6 loss
📈 Value king of the round — Tino Libaak delivered 29.2 FP as the top male scorer while costing a fraction of the top-ranked players, proving once again that three-set wins from lower-ranked players are where fantasy budgets go to flourish
🎟️ Tournament leaderboard tightening — Padelcilu leads Rotterdam at 341.4 but GusTeam (319.9) and g0nc4s (315.1) are close enough to make the quarterfinals genuinely decisive, while DavidCereCat sits fifth in the tournament but second in the overall season at 11,861.9
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padelcilu | 341.4 |
| 2 | ZeGalan | 327.4 |
| 3 | GusTeam | 319.9 |
| 4 | g0nc4s | 315.1 |
| 5 | DavidCereCat | 307.4 |
1. Three-set wins almost always outperform straight-sets wins at this stage — if you can predict which matches go deep, you're picking for multiplied points, not just results
2. Don't punish your budget chasing top-ranked players whose multipliers cap their upside — a Libaak (29.2 FP) or Escacena (43.4 FP) can outscore a Tapia or Triay in the same round at half the credit cost
3. Stats bonuses matter — Escacena's 7.0 stats bonus was decisive in building her 43.4 haul; players known for serve aggression and break-point conversion are consistently worth a premium in deeper rounds
The quarterfinals are where the real points flood in — round base jumps to 18 and every win compounds harder. Get your picks locked in before the draw closes and make Rotterdam count.