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KIVA CLUB OPEN | Santa Fe

9/18/2016

 

A tournament with a lot of winners!

      The Kiva Club Open tournament concluded Sunday with a professional champion and many amateur champions in a variety of divisions.
     The winner of the Professional Squash Association tournament was England's Jaymie Haycocks. The 32-year-old defeated 22-year-old American Dylan Cunningham in three games to take the championship. You can read more about the professional matches here: Kiva Club Open news.
     More than 40 players competed in the amateur divisions. Here is a list of winners:

5.5 SINGLES
Champion: Nick Platt (Washington, DC)
Finalist: Chris Fontes (Los Alamos)
Third: Jehanzeb Chaudhry (Albuquerque)
Fourth: Charles Amm (Colorado)

4.5 SINGLES
Champion: Nick Platt (Washington, DC)
Finalist: Thomas Bunn (St. Louis)

2.5 SINGLES
Champion: Sloan Swanson (Kiva Club)
Finalist: Dick Silbar (Los Alamos)
Third: Michael Hare (Kiva Club)
Fourth (tie):  Jim Fowler (Encinitas), Alexander Timofeev (Los Alamos)

A DOUBLES
Champion: Todd Lopez and Grant Robinson (Kiva Club)
Finalist: Tom Abrams and Sean Gallagher (Kiva Club)

B DOUBLES
Champion: Thomas Bunn (St. Louis) and Nick Platt (Washington D.C.)
Finalist: Charles Amm (Colorado) and Walter Burke (Kiva Club)
Third: Tim Farrell and Don Kirby (Kiva Club)
Fourth: Courtney Carswell and Michael Munson (Kiva Club)

C DOUBLES
Champion: Graham Sharman and Matt Wilson (Kiva Club)
Finalist: Josh Brown and Josiah Child (Kiva Club)
Third: Chris Fontes and Dick Silbar (Los Alamos)
Fourth: Jon Bender (Dallas) and David Foley (Phoenix)
Fifth: Michael Hare and Sloan Swanson (Kiva Club)

No. 1 seed Jaymie Haycocks wins the Kiva Club Open in Santa Fe

9/18/2016

 

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Jaymie Haycocks and Dylan Cunningham.
Jaymie Haycocks
Dylan Cunnigham
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Kiva Open champ Jaymie Haycocks
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     The 32-year-old Jaymie Haycocks is the Kiva Club Open PSA champion. He defeated 22-year-old Dylan Cunningham in three games at the Kiva Club Open final Sunday in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
     The match lasted 35 minutes.
     Haycocks, who is English, was the tournament’s No. 1 seed and is ranked No. 88 in world. He did not lose a game in his four matches in the tournament.
Cunningham, an American, was the No. 5 seed and is ranked No. 179 in the world. It was his first trip to a PSA tournament final.
     The first game took 14 minutes. Haycocks took the first point, then Cunningham took three straight. Haycocks countered with five of his own. Haycocks was more patient than Cunningham in the early going, varying his pace, hitting deep rails and cross-courts until he spotted an opening. Eight minutes into the game, the score was tied at 6-6 and a minute later at 7-7. With 13 minutes gone, it was tied 10-10. Then Haycocks ended a rally with a shot of perfect length that died in Cunningham’s forehand corner, and Cunningham tinned the final shot to end the game.
     The second game mirrored the first at the start. Eight minutes in, the game was tied 7-7, but Haycocks rattled off four straight in the next three minutes to take it, 11-7. Again, it was Haycocks' experience and patience that won the game. When it mattered most, he always made the right shot and never rushed or tried to force a winner.
     Haycocks dominated the third game, which lasted just six minutes. Cunningham won the first point, but Haycocks ran off the next eight. He seemed to have Cunningham off balance throughout. Haycocks even won two service points when Cunningham mishit the ball. As he fell further behind, Cunningham seemed to tire, while Haycocks appeared fresh, as if the match had just started. Cunningham managed just two more points, losing 11-3.
     Both players were gracious on the court, displaying fine sportsmanship. In the final game, Cunningham declined a let when Haycocks hit a cross-court that died in the back forehand corner. The players collided near mid-court and the referee called a let, but Cunningham said, “no let.”
     Haycocks had cruised through his first three matches in the tournament.
     In his opening round match, he beat Mexico’s Heralio Salaiz Estrada in three quick games, giving up only 12 points in the match.
     In his quarterfinals match, Haycocks had to work a little harder to defeat Nigeria’s Babatunde Ajagbe in three games. He gave up up 23 points in that match.
     In his semifinal match, Haycocks beat fellow Englishman Reuben Phillips in three games, giving up 23 points.
     Haycocks was the oldest player in the tournament to reach the quarterfinals.
      To win his way to the final match, Cunningham beat Scotland’s Jon Geekie in three games, giving up 18 points. He next beat No. 2 seed Adam Murrills of England in four games, giving up 30 points. Cunningham got a bye in the semifinals because No. 4 seed Edgar Zayas of Mexico injured his knee and was unable to play.
      In getting to the finals, Haycocks had not lost a game and had given up just 58 points while scoring 106 of his own.
     By contrast, Cunningham had lost one game and given up 54 points to his own total of 75.
     This was the second annual Kiva Club Open, which was played at a private squash club in Santa Fe. The 16 players competed for ranking points and for $5,000 in prize money.
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Jaymie Haycocks and Dylan Cunningham are in the Kiva Open final

9/17/2016

 
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Reuben Phillips and Jaymie Haycocks.
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The players buying time for a brief rest.
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The match ended with a handshake.
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Dylan Cunningham made the finals without playing after his semi-final opponent dropped out with an injury. Cunningham refereed the Haycocks-Phillips match.
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The match was played before an appreciative overflow audience at the Kiva Club in Santa Fe.
     Jaymie Haycocks defeated fellow Englishman Reuben Phillips in straight games in the Kiva Club Open semifinals on Saturday. He'll play American Dylan Cunningham in Sunday's final match.
     Haycocks's match lasted 37 minutes.
     The 32-year-old Haycocks is the tournament’s No. 1 seed and is ranked No. 88 in world.
     The 24-yearold Phillips was the No. 3 seed and is ranked No. 147 in the world.
     The first game was over in a quick 8 minutes. Haycocks won it 11-3.  He won the first three points, then lost two, then ran off a string of five.
     Phillips tinned a number of shots.  After hitting the tin to make it 2-8, he said angrily to himself, “You can’t do this.”
     The second game was longer – 14 minutes. Haycocks won it, 12-10. He jumped to a 4-1 lead, with Phillips hitting the tin twice, put then Phillips won five of the next six points to take a 6-5 lead. In the second half of the game, Haycocks seemed to tire, and tinned himself three times. But with the scored tied 10-10, it was Phillips who missed the final two shots, hitting tin both times.
     The third game went 9 minutes, with Haycocks again prevailing 12-10. Phillips had raced to a 7-3 lead, with Haycocks hitting the tin twice early on. But then Haycocks hit his stride, winning five of the next six points. He won one point on service ace, and seemed to frustrated Phillips by varying his pace and shot selection – including on the serve. Phillips nonetheless tied the game 10-10 but then Phillips hit a perfect drop volley to get to match point. “I needed you to miss that,” said Phillips as much to himself as to anyone. The next point, Phillips hit the tin to end the match.
     Haycocks had cruised in his opening round match, beating Mexico’s Heralio Salaiz Estrada in three quick games, giving up only 12 points in the match.
     In his quarter-finals match, Haycocks had to work a little harder to defeat Nigeria’s Babatunde Ajagbe in three games. He gave up up 23 points in that match.
​     To win his way to the semi-finals, Phillips beat England’s Charlie Lee in a 1-hour, 12-minute, five-game match. The 18-year-old Lee was the tournament’s No. 8 seed (he is World No. 187), and he stretched Phillips with many long rallies.
Phillips was pushed in his opening round match by Adrian Leanza in a three-game match that took 45 minutes to play. While Phillips won the match handily by game score, he had to stay on the court for many long rallies.
     In getting to the semis, Haycocks had not lost a game and had given up just 35 points while scoring 66 of his own.
    By contrast, Phillips had lost two games and given up 56 points to his own total of 66.

     The second semi-final day was cancelled because of injury.
     Edgar Zayas, the 21-year-old, Mexican, dropped out because of a sore knee. He was the tournament’s No 4 seed, and World #157.
     American Dylan Cunningham, 22, thus goes right to Sunday’s final against Jaymie Haycocks. It will be Cunningham’s first-ever appearance in a PSA tournament final.
     The 6-foot-four Cunningham is the tournament’s No. 5 seed. He is ranked No. 179 in the world.
     The final is scheduled to start at noon.
     This is the second annual Kiva Club Open, which is being played at a private squash club in Santa Fe.
The 16 players are competing for ranking points and for $5,000 in prize money.
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Kiva Club Open's PSA quarter-final results

9/16/2016

 
​    The Kiva Club Open's second day of professional play was Friday. (Amateur singles and doubles play also began Friday; it is round-robin, and we'll post results when those matches conclude on Sunday.)
       The 16 professional players are competing for ranking points and $5,000 in prize money.   Here's what happened in the PSA quarterfinals on Friday:

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Jaymie Haycocks and Babatunde Ajagbe.
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Charlie Lee and Reuben Phillips.
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Edgar Zayas and Alex Ingham.
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Adam Murrills and Dylan Cunningham.
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Noon: Jaymie Haycocks easily defeated Babtunde Ajagbe, 3-0.
     Haycocks, an Englishman, is the tournament’s No. 1 seed and is ranked No. 88 in the world.
     He won 11-8, 11-7 and 11-8.
     The first game was the longest at 12 minutes. The players traded points early on, then Haycocks ran off two strings of three points in a row to take a 10-5 lead. Ajagbe ran off three straight to close the margin, but it was too late. Game to Haycocks.
     In the second game, which lasted 9 minutes, Haycocks jumped to a 4-0 start, and built a 6-1 lead before Ajagbe won five straight to make it a game. But Haycocks won five of the next six points to close it out. Haycocks won two points on service aces, both lobs to Ajagbe’s backhand.
     The third game, which lasted 10 minutes, was back-and-forth and was tied 8-8. But then Haycocks won three straight points to win it. On the final point, Ajagbe returned a serve into his forehand corner and managed to trap himself there. Haycocks went to hit the ball, but the ball hit Ajagbe first. End of match.
     The audience chuckled, the two players smiled and briefly hugged each other before leaving the court.
     Haycocks had cruised in his opening round match, beating Mexico’s Heralio Salaiz Estrada in three quick games and giving up only 12 points in the match.
     Ajagbe had to work hard in his opening round win over 16-year-old Mexican Leonel Cardenas. That match took an hour and went to five games.
     Ajagbe, a 29-year-old Nigerian, was seeded No. 7. Ajagbe is ranked World No. 184. This is his second time playing in the Kiva Open.
     The 32-year-old Haycocks is the oldest player in the tournament to reach the quarterfinals.

1 PM: Reuben Phillips prevailed in a long, hard-fought, five-game match against Charlie Lee.
     The match went the full distance, with Phillips winning, 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5. It took 1 hour and 12 minutes.
     Lee stretched Phillips with many long rallies, retrieving shot after shot and often winning the rally, but Phillips was the more physical player. At 5-foot-9 and 181 pounds, he outweighed the 5-foot-10 Lee by 50 pounds. Phillips often used his mass to his advantage, making it difficult for Lee to get cleanly to the ball.
     Phillips, a 24-year-old Englishman, is the tournament’s No. 3 seed and ranked World No. 147.
     Lee, an 18-year-old also from England, is ranked World No. 187, and was the tournament’s No. 8 seed.
     Both Phillips and Lee won their opening round matches in three games. Phillips took unseeded American Andrian Leanza in a 45-minute match, while Lee cruised past Bermuda’s Noah Browne. 

3 PM: Edgar Zayas defeated Alex Ingham in a seesaw five-game match.
     Game scores were 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 11-3 and 11-4.
     Ingram, a left-hander, seemed in control of the match after the third game, but found himself quickly behind 6-1 in the fourth game and never regained his equilibrium. He began missing shots that he had made earlier in the match, and seemed to go for the knockout punch rather than playing with the patience and consistency that had won him games two and three.
     Zayas, a 21-year-old Mexican, is ranked World No. 147. He dispatched American Nick Talbott in the tournament’s opening round, 11-9, 11-5 and 11-5.
     In his opening round match, Ingham upset No. 6 seed Diego Gobbi of Brazil, winning easily in three straight games, 11-7, 11-3 and 11-4. That match lasted just 30 minutes.
     Ingham, a 26-year-old Englishman, was the only unseeded player to reach the quarterfinals.

4 PM: American Dylan Cunningham upset No. 2 seed Adam Murrills of England, 3-1.
     Cunningham won the first game, 11-9. The game was tight throughout, with both players hitting rails and cross-courts with power.
     The second game went to Murrills. The game was close until near the end, when Murrills hit a crosscourt winner into the nick off of Cunningham’s serve, then got a stroke call from a loose rail hit by Cunningham. The second game went to Murrills, 11-8.
     The third game was neck-and-neck. Murrills tinned two shots midway through the game to keep Cunningham close, then Cunningham took a 10-9 lead, only to have Murrills tie at 10-10. Cunningham won the next two points, and the game, 12-10.
     Cunningham took the fourth and final game decisively, 11-6.
     Ultimately, it was Cunningham’s size – he is 6-foot-4  – along with his reach and power that won the match. It was a mystery Murrills couldn’t solve.
     Murrills was the tournament’s No. 2 seed and is ranked World No. 113.
     In his opening round match, the 26-year-old Murrills defeated his former coach and mentor, Drewe Williams. Williams is the Kiva Club’s resident squash pro, and he taught Murrills when Murrills was a junior player in England.
     The 22-year-old Cunningham is seeded No. 5 in the tournament and his world rank is No. 179. In his first match at this year's Kiva Open, he beat Scotland’s Jon Geekie in straight games.​

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First round action at the Kiva Club Open in Santa Fe

9/15/2016

 
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Salaiz Estrada flipped a ball off the back wall to return it to Jaymie Haycocks.
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Jaymie Haycocks (left) and Heraclio Salaiz Estrada.
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Babatunde Ajagbe (right) and Leonel Cardenas.
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After Cardenas was hit by the ball, Ajagbe was asked if he wanted to play a let. "No, no," he said, "it was a stroke."
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Charlie Lee and Noah Browne.
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Noah Browne hitting a backhand rail.
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Charlie Lee attacking the ball.
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Reuben Phillips and Adrian Leanza.
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Leanza stretched to extend rallies against Phillips.
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Diego Gobbi and Alex Ingham.
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Ingham worked around Gobbi to get to nearly every shot Gobbi hit.
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Dylan Cunningham and Jon Geekie.
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Cunningham hitting a backhand rail against Geekie.
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Adam Murrills and Drewe Williams.
         The second annual Kiva Club Open tournament began today in Santa Fe with eight professional singles matches. The tournament is a combination professional and amateur tournament. The Professional Squash Association portion has 16 players competing for ranking points and for $5,000 in prize money.
     The amateur draw, which starts playing on Friday, includes singles and doubles in various skill levels.
​
    Here’s a report on today’s professional action:
 
Noon:  Jaymie Haycocks easily defeated Heraclio Salaiz Estrada, three games to none, in the opening round of play at the Kiva Club Open.
     Haycocks, an Englishman, is the tournament’s No. 1 seed and is ranked No. 88 in the world. He controlled the T from the beginning, forcing Salaiz Estrada to hit risky drop shots and lobs. The match lasted just 30 minutes, and the game scores were 11-4, 11-3 and 11-5.
     Salaiz Estrada, who is from Mexico, is World No. 303. He currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona. This is his second run at Kiva Open. He played valiantly, chasing balls all over the court, but he couldn’t overcome Haycocks’s consistency and experience.
    The 32-year-old Haycocks is the one of the oldest players entered in the tournament. Salaiz Estrada is 30 years old.
 
1 PM Babatunde Ajagbe, a 29-year-old Nigerian, narrowly beat 16-year-old Leonel Cardenas of Mexico in a five-game, hour-long match.
     The game scores were 8-11, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10 and 11-9.
     Early on, both players worked the other’s backhand, but in the fourth game, they started hitting more cross-courts and the match became increasing contentious with the players bumping, jostling, and asking for lets. The fourth game lasted nearly 20 minutes.
      Midway through the fifth game, with the score tied, 6-6, Ajagbe hit Cardenas with a backhand from the back of the court. Cardenas argued for a let, with Ajagbe apologizing for hitting him.
       “Sorry,” said Ajagbe, gesturing that the strike was unintentional.
       “Do you want to play a let,” asked the referee, David Foley.
     “No, no,” said Ajagbe, “it was a stroke.”
     The players traded points through the rest of the game, but Ajagbe got the last two and reached 11 first.
     The stocky Cardenas looks older than his 16 years. He was not seeded in the tournament and is ranked World No. 403.
     Ajagbe is ranked World No. 184. This is his second time playing in the Kiva Open.
 
2 PM:  Charlie Lee, an 18-year-old Englishman, took Noah Browne of Bermuda in three quick games in a first-round match at the Kiva Open in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
     The game scores were 11-9, 11-7 and 11-6.
     Lee, ranked World No. 187, is the tournament’s No. 8 seed.
     Browne is a towering 6-feet, 4-inches tall, while Lee is 5-foot, 10-inches tall. Browne is 198 pounds, Lee 132. The two players found themselves in several tangles, but the fleet-footed Lee usually extricated himself for a winning shot.
     The 23-year-old Browne is ranked World No. 287.
 
3 PM It took Reuben Phillips three long games to beat Adrian Leanza. With the exception of the second game, the game scores seem lopsided – 11-3, 12-10, 11-3 – but the match was full of long rallies with Leanza stretching Phillips at every opportunity. The match lasted about 45 minutes.
     After the first game, which Phillips dominated, Leanza seemed to find himself, playing more confidently and aggressively, running the court, fetching balls and extending every point.
    Phillips, a 24-year-old Englishman, is the tournament’s No. 3 seed and ranked World No. 147. Leanza is an American who lives in Denver, Colorado. The 27-year-old is ranked World No. 444.
 
4 PM Edgar Zayas handled Nick Talbott in three quick and decisive games. The game scores were 11-9, 11-5 and 11-5.
     Talbott seemed to tire half way through the second game, and Zayas won points in bunches – four in a row, then three in a row. His winning pace accelerated in the third game, when he won six in a row, followed by three in a row to close the match.
     Zayas, a 21-year-old Mexican, is the tournament’s No. 4 seed and ranked World No. 147.
     Talbott, who is 23, lives in Palo Alto, California. (If the name Talbott sounds familiar, it is because Talbott’s father, Mark Talbott was the No. 1 hardball singles squash player from 1983 to 1995.)
 
5 PM Alex Ingham upset No. 6 seed Diego Gobbi. Ingham, a 26-year-old Englishman, won in three straight games, 11-7, 11-3 and 11-4. The match took just 30 minutes.
     Gobbi, a 21-year-old Brazilian, is ranked No. 183 in the world. Ingham is ranked No. 388.
     Ingham is a lefthander, and Gobbi kept the ball on his forehand side, playing against Ingham’s backhand. The strategy didn’t work. Ingham chased down almost everything Gobbi hit.
 
6 PM American Dylan Cunningham beat Scotland’s Jon Geekie, 3-0. Game scores were 11-3, 11-7 and 11-8.
     Cunningham jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first game, and never looked back. In the second game, he had runs of four and five points in a row.
     In the final game, Geekie held even at 6-6 and then pulled ahead 8-6. But then Cunningham ran off the next five points to win the game and the match.
     Cunningham covers a lot of the court merely by being on it. The lanky American is 6-foot-4 and weighs 181 pounds. The 22-year-old Cunningham is seeded No. 5 in the tournament and his world rank is No. 179.
     Geekie, from Scotland, also is a sizable fellow, standing 6-foot-1. The 26-year-old lefthander is ranked No. 200 in the world.
     This is both players’ second time at the Kiva Open.
 
7 PM: In a battle of master and pupil, the pupil prevailed. Adam Murrills beat Drewe Williams, 3-0.
     The match was a crowd favorite, because the 38-year-old Williams is the Kiva Club’s resident squash pro. He was granted a slot in the draw when another player dropped out at the last minute.
     The match also had an added dimension:  Williams, who grew up in Chester, England, coached Murrills when the 26-year-old Murrills was a junior player in England.
      “I guess I taught him too well,” said Williams after the match. The games scores were 11-4, 11-7 and 11-7.
     Murrills is the tournament’s No. 2 seed and is ranked World No. 113.

     Professional play resumes at noon on Friday. The finals match is noon Sunday.
 


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Williams (center) leaving the court and getting high-fives after losing to Murrills (left). The match was a crowd favorite, as Williams is the Kiva Club's resident pro.

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