England’s Matthew on Top of the World by Nathan Clarke January 2, 2014
- 2013 World Squash Champion Nick Matthew has leapfrogged Egypt’s Ramy
Ashour and Frenchman Gregory Gaultier to top the first Dunlop PSA Men’s
World Squash Rankings of 2014. The Englishman
followed up November’s World Championship triumph with a maiden Hong
Kong Open title in December to cap an impressive end-of-year run and
leap from third to first on the rankings, ending Ashour’s 12-month grip
on top spot. “I’m playing the best
squash of my career at the moment and that’s something I want to carry
through into 2014 with the Commonwealth Games coming to the UK,” said
Matthew. “2013 was a really
special year for me. Winning the World Championships in Manchester was
amazing and winning in Hong Kong after so many years of trying was a
great way to end the year. “I got married as well which was one of the most important things so it was a great year for me all round. “To now start the year
as World No.1 makes that experience even better. I’m going to enjoy
being back at No.1 and I’m looking forward to hopefully continuing that
success in 2014.” Matthew’s ascendency
from third to first sees Ashour, who ended 2013 plagued by injury, drop
to third in the rankings while Gaultier maintains his No.2 ranking. Elsewhere in the top
20, Egypt’s Tarek Momen has overtaken countryman Omar Mossad to 11th
spot with Germany’s Simon Rosner rising from 16th to 13th and Egyptian
Karim Abdel Gawad moving from 19th to 16th. January 2014 Dunlop PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 (inc points average) Pos
[Prev]
Player
Country Average 1
[3] Nick
Matthew
ENG
1329.000 2
[2] Gregory
Gaultier
FRA
1297.500 3
[1] Ramy
Ashour
EGY
1187.500 4
[4] Mohamed
Elshorbagy
EGY
904.500 5
[5] James
Willstrop
ENG
845.500 6
[6] Karim
Darwish
EGY
678.000 7
[7] Borja
Golan
ESP
668.500 8
[8] Peter
Barker
ENG
531.500 9
[9] Amr
Shabana
EGY
462.500 10
[10] Daryl
Selby
ENG
446.500 11
[12] Tarek
Momen
EGY
439.000 12
[11] Omar
Mosaad
EGY
438.500 13
[16] Simon
Rosner
GER
429.500 14
[13] Miguel Angel Rodriguez
COL
363.500 15
[15] Saurav
Ghosal
IND
324.000 16
[19] Karim Abdel
Gawad
EGY
307.500 17
[18] Laurens Jan
Anjema
NED
306.818 18
[14] Cameron
Pilley
AUS
302.500 19
[17] Alister
Walker
BOT
280.500 20
[20] Stephen
Coppinger
RSA
266.818
