Despite losing to Ramy Ashour in last month's final of the PSA World Series ROWE British Grand Prix, England's Nick Matthew extends the lead over his Egyptian rival at the top of the October Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published today by the Professional Squash Association.
The pair contested their fourth successive World Series final this year in Manchester - but, having no ranking points from the 2010 event to defend, Matthew was assured of the No1 slot as soon as he reached last month's British GP quarter-finals. Meanwhile, 2010 champion Ashour needed to retain the title in order to maintain his points total over the previous 12 months.
Egyptians Karim Darwish and Amr Shabana - the two beaten British Grand Prix semi-finalists - retain their third and fifth places, respectively, while Englishman James Willstrop separates the two at No4.
Rapidly-rising Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy moves up a single place to record a career-high eighth position in the new list. The UK-based 20-year-old clinched the fourth PSA World Tour title of his career at the Colombian Open last month - becoming the first Egyptian to win the long-established Tour title in Bogota.
And Omar Mosaad celebrates further notable Egyptian success in the top 20 by jumping to a best-ever world No13. The 23-year-old from Cairo celebrated only his second ever quarter-final appearance in a World Series championship when he upset France's former world number one Thierry Lincou in the second round of the British Grand Prix.
Alister Walker, the former England international who now represents Botswana, his country of birth, also celebrates a return to the world top 20, at No20.
October 2011 top 20 (inc. points average):
1 |
[1] |
Nick Matthew |
ENG |
1,414 |
2 |
[2] |
Ramy Ashour |
EGY |
1,301 |
3 |
[3] |
Karim Darwish |
EGY |
963 |
4 |
[4] |
James Willstrop |
ENG |
799 |
5 |
[5] |
Amr Shabana |
EGY |
774 |
6 |
[6] |
Gregory Gaultier |
FRA |
700 |
7 |
[7] |
Peter Barker |
ENG |
568 |
8 |
[9] |
Mohamed El Shorbagy |
EGY |
510 |
9 |
[8] |
David Palmer |
AUS |
433 |
10 |
[10] |
Thierry Lincou |
FRA |
426 |
11 |
[11] |
Daryl Selby |
ENG |
388 |
12 |
[12] |
Laurens Jan Anjema |
NED |
387 |
13 |
[14] |
Omar Mosaad |
EGY |
368 |
14 |
[13] |
Mohd Azlan Iskandar |
MAS |
355 |
15 |
[15] |
Hisham Mohamed Ashour |
EGY |
351 |
16 |
[16] |
Cameron Pilley |
AUS |
340 |
17 |
[17] |
Adrian Grant |
ENG |
328 |
18 |
[18] |
Wael El Hindi |
EGY |
291 |
19 |
[19] |
Stewart Boswell |
AUS |
278 |
20 |
[21] |
Alister Walker |
BOT |
249 |
For full list - see www.psaworldtour.com