Egypt's Karim Darwish moves into his eight month as world number one, according to the new August Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published today (Friday) by the Professional Squash Association.

The 27-year-old from Cairo maintains his lead ahead of Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, who holds onto his career-best position of number two.

In an unchanged top eight, Egypt's 21-year-old World Open champion Ramy Ashour remains in third place - with compatriot Amr Shabana, the three-time world champion, at No4.

But Londoner Adrian Grant is one of two Englishmen celebrating career-best rankings in the new list:  The 28-year-old left-hander, who boasts more PSA World Tour titles than any other current compatriots on the Tour, rises to No9 - his first ever single-figure ranking.

Grant won his 16th Tour title at the Indian Challenger No2 in Kolkata in March - but was forced to withdraw from this month's CIMB Malaysian Open due to a calf injury.

Alister Walker, the Botswana-born 26-year-old who made his England senior international debut in April, jumps two places to a career-high world No14.  Walker claimed his third Tour title at the Midtown Sanctuaire Open in Montreal in February.

Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema is also celebrating a career-best ranking after a two-place jump.  The 26-year-old from The Hague reached his 21st PSA Tour final at the Internationaux de la Reunion in France in June - a week after claiming his eighth title at the Toulouse Open.

Two players also mark their return to the world top 20:  Australian Cameron Pilley, out of the elite group for four months, secured an unexpected berth in last month's final of the Australian Open - and leaps three places to 19.

Olli Tuominen, the highest-ranked Finn throughout this decade, slips back into the top 20 at No20 after a three-month absence.  The 30-year-old from Helsinki delighted local fans in February when he upset favourite Stewart Boswell to win the Savcor Finnish Open for the second year in a row.

August top 20 (inc. points average):

1             [1]           Karim Darwish     EGY         1079
2             [2]           Gregory Gaultier   FRA         873
3             [3]           Ramy Ashour        EGY         741
4             [4]           Amr Shabana       EGY         735
5             [5]           Nick Matthew      ENG        667
6             [6]           David Palmer        AUS         576
7             [7]           Peter Barker         ENG        487
8             [8]           Thierry Lincou       FRA         473
9             [10]        Adrian Grant         ENG        417
10           [9]           Wael El Hindi        EGY         396
11           [11]        Borja Golan           ESP         385
12           [12]        James Willstrop   ENG        374
13           [15]        Laurens Jan Anjema           NED        283
14           [16]        Alister Walker       ENG        274
15           [20]        Stewart Boswell   AUS         258
16           [13]        Mohd Azlan Iskandar         MAS        256
17           [17]        Mohamed El Shorbagy       EGY         254
18           [19]        Aamir Atlas Khan PAK         251
19           [22]        Cameron Pilley     AUS         240
20           [21]        Olli Tuominen       FIN          230

For full list – see www.psa-squash.com