World No.79 Carlos Cornes Ribadas triumphed in his second successive PSA
World Tour event after taking the plaudits at the ASB Prague Squash
Classic, PSA M5 tournament – beating New Zealand’s Evan Williams in the
final.
Less than a month after capturing just his second PSA World Tour title
at the Chateau-Arnoux Open, Cornes was in superb form as he powered to
the final in Prague, with the pre-tournament title favourite beating
Petr Martin, Emyr Evans and Daniel Mekbib to reach a fifth PSA World
Tour final.
Williams was looking to win his sixth Tour title, but was brushed aside
by a rampant Cornes in the opening game, with the Spaniard taking it
11-4 in just eight minutes.
An improvement in the second game from Williams saw the New Zealander
race away to take a 7-3 lead and the World No.88 built up four game
balls, only to see Williams overturn all of them, eventually prevailing
on the tie-break to double his lead.
A 7-1 lead for Cornes in game three looked to be ushering in a quick
resolution to the fixture, but Williams took seven of the next eight
points on offer to level at 8-8. A stroke against Williams handed the
lead back to Cornes though, and he converted the next two points to
record an 11-4, 13-11 11-8 victory that sees him capture a third PSA
World Tour crown.
“I’m happy with the title,” said Cornes.
“I started the match playing really well, and then in the second he came
on court firing and he made me do a few errors. I managed to take the
second and from there built a bit of confidence.
“In the beginning of the third, he lost his concentration and quickly I
found myself 7-1 up in a couple of minutes. I started to think too much
about winning instead of playing to win.
“I was lucky to take it in the third and I’m really happy with my
performances all week. I want to thank [Tournament Promoter] Tomas [Forter]
and the Czech Squash Association for putting on such an event. Also, a
massive thanks to all the people who help me back home, coaches, friends
and family. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible.”
Speaking about the match, Williams said: “It wasn’t my day today. I
couldn’t find my length and width. Carlos shut the court down and was
too good.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the result, but I have another
tournament next week to play, so hopefully I can finish the year off
better. The tournament was run really well. Everything we needed was
catered for, the hotel is close, food is good, and we got good crowds.
Well done, Tomas.”
