Nick
Matthew confirmed
as new World No1
England's Nick Matthew is confirmed as the new world
number one in the January Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash
Rankings.
The 30-year-old from Sheffield rounded off the most
successful year of his career in devastating style this
month - firstly by winning the Saudi PSA World Open to
become England's first ever world champion, then by
clinching the final PSA Super Series title of the year at
the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters in New Delhi.
"It's been a dream year," admitted Matthew, who underwent
career-threatening shoulder surgery in 2008 - and bounced
back in 2010, not only winning two gold medals in the
Commonwealth Games in October, but picking up seven PSA
World Tour titles, including PSA Super Series trophies at
the North American Open, the Sky Open in Egypt, the
Australian Open in Canberra, before the PSA Masters in
India.
The year has been defined by the rivalry between Matthew and
Ramy Ashour, the 23-year-old Egyptian who, after
beginning the year as number one, then replacing the
Englishman at the top of the rankings in September, now
slips to second place behind Matthew.
But Ashour, despite an injury which prevented him from
competing in the PSA Masters, still finished the year at the
top of the 2010 PSA Super Series Rankings after reaching the
final in all but one of the eight events in which he
competed.
While Egypt's Karim Darwish retains his third
position, England's James Willstrop moves up to
fourth place after finishing as runner-up in both the World
Open in Saudi Arabia and the PSA Masters in India.
Egypt's four time world champion Amr Shabana also
rises in the new list, to No5, while Frenchman Gregory
Gaultier slips to sixth.
But Egypt's 19-year-old Mohamed El Shorbagy - the
youngest player in the world top 40 - continues his charge
up the list by securing a career-high No9 ranking.
Daryl Selby also ends the year on a high, jumping
three places to No10 to ensure that four Englishmen begin
2011 in the world top ten.
But Egypt now boasts a remarkable seven players in the top
20 after a stunning leap of 11 places by Hisham Ashour.
The 28-year-old from Cairo - Ramy Ashour's older brother -
celebrates a career-best 18th place after battling through
to the PSA Masters semi-finals as the 14th seed.
|
Matthew on top of the world
 Top
20
Jan 2011 |
|
Rank |
Prev |
Player |
Pts |
Ctry |
| 1é |
[2] |
Nick
Matthew |
1418 |
Eng |
|
2ê |
[1] |
Ramy Ashour |
1222 |
Egy |
| 3 |
[3] |
Karim
Darwish |
1018 |
Egy |
|
4é |
[5] |
James
Willstrop |
925 |
Eng |
| 5é |
[8] |
Amr
Shabana |
758 |
Egy |
|
6ê |
[5] |
Gregory
Gaultier |
747 |
Fra |
| 7 |
[7] |
Thierry Lincou |
580 |
Fra |
| 8 |
[8] |
Peter Barker |
530 |
Eng |
| 9é |
[10] |
Mohamed El Shorbagy |
416 |
Egy |
|
10é |
[13] |
Daryl Selby |
407 |
Eng |
| 11é |
[15] |
Cameron Pilley |
385 |
Aus |
| 12ê |
[9] |
Laurens Jan Anjema |
384 |
Ned |
| 13ê |
[12] |
Wael El Hindi |
369 |
Egy |
|
14é |
[16] |
Azlan Iskandar |
366 |
Mas |
| 15é |
[17] |
Omar Mosaad |
335 |
Egy |
| 16ê |
[11] |
David Palmer |
314 |
Aus |
|
17ê |
[14] |
Adrian Grant |
298 |
Eng |
|
18é |
[29] |
Hisham Ashour |
272 |
Egy |
|
19 |
[19] |
Stewart Boswell |
269 |
Aus |
| 20 |
[20] |
Alister Walker |
263 |
Eng |
|
Full Rankings |
|
