The FIP Bronze Phoenix Open closed out Sunday, September 6th, at Padel Pals in Mesa, Arizona, ending a week of Cupra FIP Tour play that gave American fans plenty to follow, chief among them a strong run from Matias Segura, who fought his way to the final before the title slipped to an international pairing.
A Semifinal Statement
Segura, paired with Lautaro Mambrini, made the loudest statement of the week when the two dispatched Vinny Di Francesco and Ivo Andenmatten in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-2. It was no small win. Di Francesco and Andenmatten had arrived in Phoenix on the back of a genuinely good year, a round-of-16 showing at the FIP Gold San Luis and a runner-up finish at the FIP Silver McAllen, and had reached the semifinals by grinding past fellow USA Padel players Nico Agritelley and Sergio Conde in a tight 7-6(4), 6-4 quarterfinal.
Beating that pair wasn’t just a good result for Segura; it’s the kind of win that disputes his USA Padel Circuit ranking. He’s currently No. 19 in the USA Padel national rankings, a number that’s easy to undersell given how little he’s played this season. A limited schedule, and he’s already reaching finals.
Running Into the Eventual Champions
Sunday’s final asked more of Segura and Mambrini than the semifinal had. Kevin Uriel Kviatkovski and Fabricio Parra Heck were the sharper team on the day, closing it out 6-3, 6-4 to take the FIP Bronze Phoenix Open title. It’s a tough way for a good week to end, but reaching a Bronze final is still a real result, and another data point in a season where Segura has made the most of very few starts.
What It Means Going Forward
Ranking points from Phoenix will feed into where Segura sits nationally heading into the fall stretch of the Cupra FIP Tour. With only two tournaments logged this year, a quarterfinal and a final, his sample size is small, but his output is hard to ignore.
For Di Francesco and Andenmatten, the semifinal exit doesn’t erase a season that’s included a Gold-level round of 16 and a Silver final, but it does mark the second time this year Agritelley and Conde have been on the wrong side of a result against them, following an earlier meeting at the USA Padel 2000 Ultra Open in Brooklyn.
For full results and draws, visit the official FIP event page.