Cardenas Claims Maiden World Tour Title At The Squash In The Land After Decisive Win Over Jaume

Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas defeated Spain’s Bernat Jaume in straight games to earn the first World Tour title of his career at the Squash in the Land.

The pair had met once before, in the first round of this season’s U.S. Open where Cardenas defeated the Spaniard in four games. The Mexican’s route to the final saw him defeat top seed Eain Yow Ng in the quarter-finals, before besting No.3 seed Greg Lobban to book his place in the final. On the other side of the draw, Jaume battled past No.4 seed Nathan Lake and No.2 seed Youssef Ibrahim to reach his first World Tour 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, winning with a well-executed backhand drop at 4-2, 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. Jaume’s positioning caused Cardenas to play the ball into the back of his leg on the next point, but the Mexican gave the ball to his opponent and conceded a let instead of a stroke.

Cardenas won a string of points, with the third coming by way of an error from his opposition, 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, but the World No.58 was still showing visible signs of frustration between points. 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 his 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 after claiming the title. “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.”

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Result: Squash in the Land Presented by Greater Cleveland Squash 2024 Men’s Final
[6] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt Bernat Jaume (ESP) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 (50m)