MADRID - Two young star players, David Zapata and David Martinez, are showing up in the semi-finals of the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid today (Sunday, 10.00) and meet two of the famous Spanish players, Dani Sánchez and Javier Palazón in the battle for the final places. David Zapata, the 2012 European junior champion, impressed the most in the sessions on Saturday with victories in 19 and 18 innings. The 23 year Spaniard faces Javier Palazón in the semis, Dani Sánchez plays against David Martinez.
The quarterfinals on Saturday night were played by three players from the Valencian Federation (Palazón, Cuenca and David Martinez), two from Murcia (Jesus Jimenez and David Zapata), two from Catalans (Dani Sánchez and Armando Moreno) and Jose Maria Mas from the Extremadura federation.
The session turned out into a fight between different generations, including the veteran Jesus Jimenez and the two youngsters Zapata and Martinez.
Dani Sánchez took a 20-2 lead in 9 innings and eventually defeated Raul Cuenca 40-28 in 31. David Zapata, in the early hours the winner against Carlos Crespo in a great match (19 innings, runs 12, 8 and 7), showed his excellent form again and finished in 18 innings against Armando Moreno, who couldn't pace with him at all (40-27).
Jesus Jimenez had a strong comeback against Javier Palazón with a run of 10, but then faltered and lost his rhythm in the decisive phase: 40-36 in 32. The match between David Martinez and Jose Maria Mas went up and down for both players. Martinez finally closed the door on his opponent and won 40-34 in 27.
Javier Palazón and David Zapata played the best matches so far and used up only 18 innings (2.222), David Zapata scored the best run, 12.
The semifinals (10.00) directly on Kozoom:
David Zapata-Javier Palazón
David Martinez-Dani Sánchez.
Some of the finalists for the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid