USA clinch Anglo American Cup opener
USA clinch Anglo American Cup
The inaugural Anglo American Cup, which saw US padel players pitted against their GB counterparts, went down to the wire at The Padel Hub North London, with the US securing victory in the penultimate match of the event.
Sixty four players took the contest to a tense final day, with Team US taking the win 53 points to 43 in the 47th of 48 matches played.
The US had started the day with a 25-15 points lead over Team GB, who took early victories in the Open mixed pairings thanks to Laura Jackson/George Weller and Alice Keddie/Rafa Vega. By the afternoon Team GB had taken the lead 37 points to 35.
With two matches left the Cup was still up for grabs. Team GB needed to win both but fell short when the Men’s 60+ US number one pair of Ron Bobman and Tom Bartzen secured a victory over Team GB’s Sandy Case and Minter Dial to clinch victory for Team USA.
Even though the Cup had been won, players and spectators remained riveted by the final match, an intense and beautifully played battle between the Women’s Open number two pairs. Dhany Quevedo and Antonella Santeusanio prevailed over Team GB’s Alice Keddie and Victoria Nicholas in a 7-6, 7-6 thriller that featured superb shotmaking by both sides.
Anglo American Cup Founders, Bill Ullman, Ben Nichols and Joelle Quinn said: “Our congratulations to Team USA for winning the first ever Anglo American Padel Cup. This event turned out to be many things – an extraordinarily exciting competition, a contest that added a new chapter to the historic sporting rivalry between the US and GB and a showcase for the amazing padel talent developing in both countries. Most of all it was a celebration of the game of padel itself and people who play and love the sport.
“We would like to express a huge thanks to our title partners Playtomic and Babolat, whose support enabled us to turn our vision for this unique sporting contest into reality. Most of all, we thank the American and British players who will forever be remembered as the pioneers that committed to the first ever Anglo American Cup and made major efforts to be part of history. We cannot wait until next year’s version in the USA!”
Team USA Women’s co-captains Ana Magrini and Lisa Teer said: “We are so proud and honoured to have competed against Great Britain. We leave Great Britain with a trophy and, more importantly, our whole team leaves with new transatlantic friendships with people as passionate about padel as we are.”
Team GB Men’s Open captain, Cameron Dollimore, said: “The team got so close to a home victory. The fact that it came down to the penultimate match speaks volumes about what the future holds for the sport in both countries. The Americans came with all the competitiveness we expected and I know the closeness of the result means Team GB already has the fire in its belly to claim back the Cup next year. The battle has commenced – bring it on in the USA in 2026!” 🎾
