Ramy Tightens Grip On Men's World No1 Ranking by Howard Harding 1 June 2013
- Success in last month's Allam British Open has strengthened Ramy
Ashour's grip on the world number one ranking, according to the June
Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings which are published today by the
Professional Squash Association.
The formidable 25-year-old from Cairo became the first Egyptian for
almost 50 years to win the sport's historic title last week, falling to
his knees on the all-glass court on the Hull City Football Club pitch
at the KC Stadium in high emotion after clinching his eighth successive
PSA World Tour title and extending his unbeaten run into a second year.
"Winning this prestigious title is one of the happiest moments of my
life, if not the happiest," said Ashour afterwards. "Winning this title
is really big for me. It's something I will always remember."
Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, runner-up in Hull, moves up to No2 - his highest ranking for more than a year.
England's James Willstrop, whose 2013 British Open campaign in his home
county of Yorkshire was stopped by Ashour in the semi-finals, rises to
third place - whilst fellow countryman Nick Matthew, the former world
champion who was hoping to extend his English record in the event to a
fourth title, slips to No4, his lowest ranking since 2009.
Stunning success in Hull, where he upset world No7 Peter Barker to
reach the British Open quarter-finals for the first time, sees Tarek
Momen back in the top ten at a career-equalling-high No10. The
25-year-old from Cairo's rise also ensures that there are five
Egyptians in the top ten for the sixth month in a row.
Australian Cameron Pilley, who became the second unseeded player in the
British Open last eight after ousting sixth seed Mohamed Elshorbagy,
rises two places to 13 to celebrate his highest ranking since February
2011.
Stephen Coppinger continues his march up the rankings to reach a
best-ever world No16. The Dublin-born 28-year-old, who in February
became the first South African to make the men's world top 20 since the
late 70s, reached the 15th Tour final of his career last month at the
Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta in Guatemala.
Almost five years after briefly making the top 20 for the first time,
Miguel Angel Rodriguez cements his status as the highest-ranked
Colombian of time by leaping four places to a career-high world No19.
A member of the PSA since 2002, Rodriguez celebrated one of the biggest
wins of his career at the Sporta event in Guatemala City, beating
Coppinger in the final to bring his Tour title haul to 22.
June 2013 top 20 (inc. points average): 1 [1] Ramy Ashour EGY 1,761 2 [3] Gregory Gaultier FRA 1,109 3 [4] James Willstrop ENG 982 4 [2] Nick Matthew ENG 941 5 [6] Karim Darwish EGY 705 6 [5] Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY 674 7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 520 8 [8] Amr Shabana EGY 514 9 [9] Borja Golan ESP 471 10 [11] Tarek Momen EGY 459 11 [10] Omar Mosaad EGY 410 12 [12] Simon Rosner GER 347 13 [15] Cameron Pilley AUS 343 14 [13] Daryl Selby ENG 336 15 [14] Alister Walker BOT 280 16 [18] Stephen Coppinger RSA 268 17 [16] Tom Richards ENG 267 18 [17] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 263 19 [23] Miguel Angel Rodriguez COL 260 20 [19] Saurav Ghosal IND 259
