El Tayeb & Cardenas Claim Squash In The Land Titles

Egypt's Nour El Tayeb earned her 16th career title after upsetting No.1 seed Georgina Kennedy, and Mexico's Leonel Cardenas defeated Spain's Bernat Jaume in straight games to earn the first PSA World Tour title of his career in the finals of the Squash in the Land Presented by Greater Cleveland Squash.

In the women's final, the match started with the pair on level terms as they traded points to 5-4 in favour of the Egyptian with calculated, physical rallies. The Englishwoman restored parity with a boast that landed just out of reach of an outstretched El Tayeb.

Through long, attritional rallies, Kennedy found herself 8-9 behind at the business end of the first game, but an irretrievable backhand drop levelled the score at 9-9. The No.1 seed got the first chance at going a game up, and converted her game ball with an inch-perfect forehand drop.

The match continued to be fought through attritional rallies in the second game, and El Tayeb kept within a point of the Englishwoman until restoring parity at 6-6 after Kennedy hit the tin attempting a boast.

El Tayeb began to score point after point, partially caused by errors from her opponent, but also due to a spell of sharp, accurate squash. After five consecutive points, the No.2 seed levelled the match at one-all with a front-court boast.

The Egyptian maintained her slim lead throughout the third game to 7-8, before going on another run of accurate, high-paced squash to burst into a 10-6 lead. Kennedy seemed fatigued as El Tayeb finished the run of form with an effort that flew past Kennedy.

It was clear that the Egyptian looked less tired as she continued her onslaught into the fourth game. The world No.8 looked unstoppable as she took a 4-0 lead with a backhand straight drive after dragging Kennedy across the court.

The Englishwoman was unable to keep up as the lead grew to 8-2. Kennedy used the last of her energy reserves as she brought the lead down to 4-8 with a well-placed straight drive, but the damage was already done as the in-form El Tayeb gave herself five championship balls after sending the No.1 seed the wrong way with a front-court boast, only needing one as she forced an error with a tight squeeze on the left wall.

"I practiced with Gina at the start of the week," said El Tayeb after winning her third title in Cleveland. "We played and she gave me a lot of confidence in my game. She's very nice, not every squash player is very nice, but she gives me compliments all the time. I remember every compliment she gave me and it makes me believe in myself more.

"At this stage I still need someone to give me validation on court and she helped me a lot at the beginning of the week. Having played well yesterday, I called Ali [Farag] after the match and told him I had nothing to lose because I felt Olivia was the better player.

At the beginning of this match I felt off. Everything was going in nicely yesterday but today it wasn't going as well as I wanted. It took me a while to hang in there, believe in myself and trust that the five games she had yesterday would be in her legs.

"I kept pushing and tried to tell myself that I'm competing against one of the best players in the world, so it's a privilege. It paid off and I'm very happy and lucky that it did. She was playing shots that had no margin for error and I couldn't do anything. I tried to enjoy the match as it went on and as I started to win it I enjoyed it a little bit more. This is my third title here, I've won three times in Cleveland.

In the men's final, the match started with a series of attritional rallies, with both unwilling to take any risks in the opening stages. Cardenas began to create a gap in the scoreline to 6-3, but Jaume came back into the game as the pace of the rallies picked up.

A well-disguised cross-court from the Spaniard forced an error from Cardenas for Jaume to take a 9-7 lead. Cardenas then won a string of points and earned the first game ball of the match. An impossibly tight squeeze got Jaume back on level terms. The Mexican's precise backhand drop was cancelled out by a mistake, but then a irretrievable forehand drop from Cardenas and an error from Jaume gave him the first game.

Jaume looked out-of-sorts at the start of the second game, exacerbated by a conduct stroke for racket abuse at 0-2. Cardenas took full advantage, accruing points to 7-1 with the last rally ending with an error from the Spaniard. A few rallies after, Jaume was given a second conduct stroke of the game after a fit of poor language to gift Cardenas six game balls. The Mexican played patiently and converted his advantage after a mistake from the Spaniard at 10-6.

The Mexican dominated the early stages of the third game, evidenced in a mesmerising forehand effort into the front-left that Jaume couldn't get to at full stretch. Jaume battled back to 4-5 with more composed play. The rallies returned to the long, high-effort sort that began the match. The patient style worked into Cardenas' favour, and he claimed four championship balls.

The world No.34 only needed one attempt, and a high lob from Jaume went out to give Cardenas the first World Tour title of his career and became the first Mexican to win a $50k event since Alfredo Avila in 2015.

"I'm feeling great," said Cardenas afterwards. "I've had tough matches this tournament, but I've done some good work to recover. The family that I'm staying with are helping me a lot with the food and making sure I'm ready. My tactic today was to play a solid basic game and to take good decisions on the court.

"He was in the final because he's played such good squash, and I knew that if I dropped my level he would take the opportunity. The first game was important for both of us, and I managed to take it and then stayed consistent."