Ramy Ashour
Reclaims World No1 Ranking
As predicted
by his victory in last week's Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong
Open, Egypt's Ramy Ashour has reclaimed the world number one ranking
in the new September Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published by
the Professional Squash Association.
The
22-year-old from Cairo first secured the top spot in January this year - but was
replaced in June by England's Nick Matthew, who arrived in Hong Kong with
five successive PSA World Tour titles to his credit, including the
previous two PSA Super Series events, the Sky Open and Australian Open.
But the
30-year-old top seed from Sheffield crashed out in the quarter-finals in Hong
Kong, beaten for the first time in nine meetings by his England team-mate
Peter Barker.
Matthew's pole
position would have been safe had Ashour not won the Super Series title. But,
playing the best squash of his career, the Egyptian reached the climax, then
battled to a stunning 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 win over France's Gregory
Gaultier - also a former world number one - in a 90-minute final.
"That was a
quality match - I'll watch it over and over again to see what I did right, what
I did wrong, and learn from it," said a jubilant Ashour at the post-match
presentations.
"Now I'm world
number one it's great, but we've still got lots of big tournaments coming up and
my aim is to keep playing well and keep winning."
Indeed Ashour
and Matthew are seeded to face each other in September's final of the ROWE
British Grand Prix, the sixth PSA Super Series event of the year
in England - an event which could result in further changes to the world ranking
hierarchy.
Positions
immediately below the top two remain unchanged, with Egyptians Amr Shabana
and Karim Darwish holding onto third and fourth places, respectively, and
England's James Willstrop staying at six.
But his first
semi-final berth in a PSA Super Series championship this year lifts Peter
Barker to seventh place, while France's Thierry Lincou slips to No8.
And there is
further Egyptian success with the world top ten debut of teenager Mohamed El
Shorbagy. The 19-year-old from Alexandria, who is combining a squash career
with studying for a degree at a University in the UK, made the last 16 in both
the Australian Open and Hong Kong Open - and rises three places to
a career-high No10.
September top
20
(inc. points average):
|
|
|
Rank |
Prev |
Player |
Pts |
Ctry |
|
1é |
[2] |
Ramy Ashour |
1408 |
Egy |
|
2ê |
[1] |
Nick Matthew |
1361 |
Eng |
|
3 |
[3] |
Amr Shabana |
897 |
Egy |
|
4 |
[4] |
Karim Darwish |
890 |
Egy |
|
5 |
[5] |
Gregory Gaultier |
818 |
Fra |
|
6 |
[6] |
James Willstrop |
745 |
Eng |
|
7é |
[8] |
Peter
Barker |
569 |
Eng |
|
8ê |
[7] |
Thierry
Lincou |
548 |
Fra |
|
9 |
[9] |
Daryl Selby |
406 |
Eng |
|
10 |
[13] |
Mohamed El
Shorbagy |
393 |
Egy |
|
11 |
[11] |
Wael El
Hindi |
388 |
Egy |
|
12ê |
[10] |
David
Palmer |
379 |
Aus |
|
13ê |
[12] |
Laurens Jan
Anjema |
373 |
Ned |
|
14 |
[14] |
Azlan Iskandar |
350 |
Mas |
|
15 |
[15] |
Adrian
Grant |
344 |
Eng |
|
16é |
[17] |
Cameron
Pilley |
337 |
Aus |
|
17ê |
[16] |
Alister
Walker |
328 |
Eng |
|
18 |
[18] |
Stewart
Boswell |
279 |
Aus |
|
19 |
[19] |
Ong Beng Hee |
266 |
Mas |
|
20 |
[20] |
Tarek Momen |
250 |
Egy |
|
|
| 
