Matthew Holds Off Ashour At World No 1 In New PSA Rankings
by Howard Harding
1 September 2011 - England's Nick Matthew holds onto his number one position in the September Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published today by the Professional Squash Association, despite losing to his Egyptian rival Ramy Ashour in last month's Viridian Australian Open final in Canberra.
It was the pair's third successive clash this year in the climax of a PSA World Series event - and world No2 Ashour avenged his earlier defeat to win in five games.
Whilst just 50 points separate Matthew and Ashour at the top of the list, Egyptian Karim Darwish retains third place more than 300 points behind, with Englishman James Willstrop at number four.
But David Palmer, the 35-year-old Aussie who delighted the Canberra crowd by outplaying two seeds to reach the Australian Open semi-finals unseeded, is rewarded by leaping two places to No8 - recording his highest position for 18 months.
There is also encouraging news for fellow countryman Stewart Boswell, the Australian number three and former world No4 who returns to the world top 20 after a three-month absence.
An unexpected berth in the last eight of the Australian Open has led Laurens Jan Anjema to become the top 20's highest riser. The unseeded Dutchman, who beat seventh seed Thierry Lincou in the opening round, has moved up three places to No12.
September 2011 Top 20:
1 [1] Nick Matthew ENG 1,281
2 [2] Ramy Ashour EGY 1,231
3 [3] Karim Darwish EGY 882
4 [4] James Willstrop ENG 856
5 [5] Amr Shabana EGY 726
6 [6] Gregory Gaultier FRA 704
7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 550
8 [10] David Palmer AUS 485
9 [9] Mohamed El Shorbagy EGY 470
10 [8] Thierry Lincou FRA 429
11 [11] Daryl Selby ENG 391
12 [15] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 385
13 [12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 370
14 [16] Omar Mosaad EGY 356
15 [13] Hisham Mohamed Ashour EGY 355
16 [14] Cameron Pilley AUS 323
17 [18] Adrian Grant ENG 298
18 [17] Wael El Hindi EGY 291
19 [21] Stewart Boswell AUS 282
20 [20] Olli Tuominen FIN 262
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