Matthew reclaims top spot
 England's
battle for the world's number one spot in squash has been
won by Nick Matthew who reclaims the position back
from James Willstrop.
Victory over his national rival at last month's JP Morgan
Tournament of Champions in New York after a sensational
comeback from injury takes Matthew to No1 in the new
February Dunlop PSA Rankings.
Matthew topped the rankings throughout 2011 - a year in
which he reached seven Tour finals, winning three titles
before becoming the first player for 15 years to
successfully defend the World Open crown in November.
But an adductor injury sustained later in the month in
Kuwait forced his withdrawal from key events which followed
- and this led to the loss of his top world number ranking
to England rival James Willstrop in January.
Frenchman Gregory Gaultier strengthens his grip on third
place, behind Willstrop, while Egypt's Karim Darwish moves
up to four, ahead of fellow countryman Ramy Ashour.
But title success in the Comfort Inn Open in Canada and a
quarter-final berth in New York has helped Egyptian Amr
Shabana to move up to sixth place.
And there is further Egyptian success for Comfort Inn Open
runner-up Hisham Ashour, who jumps three places to a
career-high No11 in the February list. After his success in
Vancouver, the 29-year-old from Cairo went on to reach the
final of last month's Motor City Open in Detroit.
England's Tom Richards also celebrates a best-ever ranking
this month: The 25-year-old, who made the Tournament of
Champions' last 16 unseeded, rises to No19.
Outside the top 20, there are notable rankings successes
achieved by Stephen Coppinger and Egyptian Marwan El
Shorbagy. South African Coppinger made the Motor City Open
semi-finals unseeded and jumps five places to a career-best
25 - while 18-year-old El Shorbagy, the youngest player in
the top 50 who became the first qualifier in ten years to
make the Tournament of Champions' last eight, leaps eight
places to a career-high 33.
|
1 |
[2] |
Nick Matthew |
ENG |
1,432 |
|
2 |
[1] |
James Willstrop |
ENG |
1,425 |
|
3 |
[3] |
Gregory Gaultier |
FRA |
1,191 |
|
4 |
[5] |
Karim Darwish |
EGY |
981 |
|
5 |
[4] |
Ramy Ashour |
EGY |
872 |
|
6 |
[8] |
Amr Shabana |
EGY |
672 |
|
7 |
[7] |
Peter Barker |
ENG |
644 |
|
8 |
[6] |
Mohamed El Shorbagy |
EGY |
622 |
|
9 |
[9] |
Laurens Jan Anjema |
NED |
470 |
|
10 |
[10] |
Azlan Iskandar |
MAS |
465 |
|
11 |
[14] |
Hisham Ashour |
EGY |
390 |
|
12 |
[11] |
Daryl Selby |
ENG |
380 |
|
13 |
[12] |
Thierry Lincou |
FRA |
369 |
|
14 |
[13] |
Omar Mosaad |
EGY |
362 |
|
15 |
[16] |
Cameron Pilley |
AUS |
342 |
|
16 |
[15] |
Alister Walker |
BOT |
312 |
|
17 |
[17] |
Adrian Grant |
ENG |
306 |
|
18 |
[18] |
Tarek Momen |
EGY |
304 |
|
19 |
[20] |
Tom Richards |
ENG |
282 |
|
20 |
[19] |
Simon Rosner |
GER |
278 |
|
Raneem breaks into Top 5
 Egypt’s Raneem
El Weleily has made her debut in the top 5 of the new WSA
Rankings.
The 23 year old had a breakthrough second half of 2011,
winning the Carol Weymuller Open and reaching the final of
the Hong Kong Open. She started 2012 in equally formidable
form by winning the Greenwich Open, beating New Zealand’s
unseeded Joelle King in the final.
Just above El Weleily, England’s Laura Massaro has once
again leapt above Ireland’s Madeline Perry to equal her
highest ranking to date of no.3.
The two remain unchanged with Nicol David extending her
reign at no.1 to 67 months whilst Jenny Duncalf stays at
no.2 for her 23rd month in a row.
Natalie Grinham moves up a single place to no.7, her highest
position since August 2010. Grinham won her 17th WSA tour
title in January at the prestigious Tournament of Champions,
a tournament making its return to the WSA tour after a
couple of years.
In the final she beat Indian star Dipika Pallikal, who this
month has more reason to celebrate as she makes further
history in her country by reaching a career high ranking of
14. As well as reaching the final at TOC, she also reached
the semi finals at the Greenwich Open. Mexico’s Samantha
Teran, a fellow Greenwich Open semi finalist, moves up 1
spot to 11 to equal her highest ranking to date.
Just outside the top 20, 16 year old Egyptian star Nour El
Sherbini rises to 23 after reaching the semi finals of the
Tournament of Champions.
There were further players who recorded significant career
highs in the top 100 for:
NSC Series no.2 Champion Siti Munirah Jusoh at 39, Hong
Kong’s Liu Tsz-Ling - a two time runner-up in January at
50,Australia Day Champion Sarah Cardwell at 55, Edinburgh
semi-finalist Zephanie Curgenven at 83 and Pakistan’s
Liberty Bell Champion Maria Toor Pakay up a massive 73
places to 89.
1 Nicol
David MAS
2 Jenny Duncalf ENG
3 Laura Massaro ENG
4 Madeline Perry IRL
5 Raneem El Weleily EGY
6 Rachael Grinham AUS
7 Natalie Grinham NED
8 Kasey Brown AUS
9 Annie Au HKG
10 Camille Serme FRA
11 Samantha Teran MEX
12 Joelle King NZL
13 Low Wee Wern MAS
14 Dipika Pallikal IND
15 Donna Urquhart AUS
16 Jaclyn Hawkes NZL
17 Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
18 Nour El Tayeb EGY
19 Joey Chan HKG
20 Sarah Kippax ENG
|
