MCO Semis: Cardenas dominates, will face #2 seed Coll in Final

MCO Semis: Cardenas dominates, will face #2 seed Coll in Final

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan – World No.18 Leonel Cardenas advanced to his maiden Silver-level final on the PSA Squash Tour after delivering a superb performance to defeat No.3 seed Eain Yow Ng in straight games at the DR21 Motor City Open 2025 in Detroit.

Mexican No.1 Cardenas barely put a foot wrong throughout the 49-minute encounter, claiming an 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 victory to set up a title decider against No.2 seed Paul Coll at the Birmingham Athletic Club, after the New Zealander came through his semifinal match with Aly Abou Eleinen in four games.

The last two matches between Cardenas and Eain Yow had lasted almost three hours, and the opening stages of this latest installment continued this trend, with a lengthy 21-minute opening game going the way of the Mexican.

Cardenas, who took significant leads at the start of all three games, continued to dominate the length game against the Malaysian No.1 as the match progressed and picked his moments to fire the ball in short wisely.

After taking a 2-0 lead, the 24-year-old only grew in the ascendancy, playing precise, error-free squash and not allowing Eain Yow a route back into the match. The No.7 sealed the win at the first time of asking and will now feature in the biggest final of his burgeoning career tomorrow.

“I feel great,” Cardenas said after the match. “I just want to get ready for tomorrow and enjoy my win of today.

“I just wanted to play freely today and be solid. I wanted to have a good match, hit good shots and play freely.

“I’m feeling great right now. I’m playing a lot of tournaments, and I just want to keep going and keep getting better and improving. I want to push this year into the top 15, and if possible, try to reach the top ten in the world. That’s my goal and I’m working hard for it.”

Cardenas’ opponent in tomorrow’s title decider, World No.4 Coll, looked in impressive form as he battled past World No.13 Aly Abou Eleinen in four games in the second semi-final of the evening.

Coll, a two-time runner-up at the Detroit-based event, had been put through his paces in the previous two rounds, having spent exactly double the amount of time on court as Eleinen – 172 minutes to his opponent’s 86.

However, this extra workload didn’t stop the No.2 seed from coming through a physical 67-minute battle with No.4 seed Eleinen, taking the match by a 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 scoreline.

Barring a hit-and-miss start to the match, in which Coll let a 7-2 lead slip into a first-game defeat, the New Zealander looked in top form, moving away in the latter stages of the following three games to book his spot in his first final of the PSA Squash Tour season.

The final of the DR21 Motor City Open gets underway at 5.30 PM on Saturday, 8th February. Watch the action unfold live on SQUASHTV.

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Results:

[7] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt [3] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (49m)

[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [4] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (67m)

Draw:

5.30 PM, Saturday, Feb. 8: [7] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)

(Courtesy PSA coverage)