WISPA rankings news

Spaniard Borja Golan, who achieved successive ‘best ever’ wins over Thierry Lincou and James Willstrop en-route to the final of the Internationaux de France - the first major squash championship to be held in Paris since 1995 – makes a welcome return to the world top 20.
 

August 2008:
Bengy back in single figures

Outside the top 20, Egyptian Omar Mosaad rises to a career-high 23rd place, boosted by his title success in the SWM Open in the USA in June.
 

A notable absentee from the July list is Welshman Alex Gough.  The former world No5, who has appeared in the rankings without a break from September 1993 - and maintained a presence in the world top 30 from May 1997 until June 2008 - has retired from the Tour to take up the new PSA position as Chief Operating Officer.

May 2008:
Gaultier moves up to two

Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema is celebrating his best-ever ranking.  The 25-year-old from The Hague picked up his seventh PSA Tour title in February when he won the Bluenose Classic in Canada.
  

Shabana holds on to
World Number One ranking

Despite being out of action throughout the first month of the New Year, Egypt's Amr Shabana maintains his grip on the world number one ranking, according to the February Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings.

While the 28-year-old from Cairo has been recovering from acute tendonitis in his wrist, his compatriot Ramy Ashour picked up the first Super Series title of the year - winning the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions in New York to cement his place in second place in the list.  The pair are expected to meet head-to-head in the final of the Pace Canadian Classic later in the month in Toronto.

England's James Willstrop, runner-up in New York, also fails to move from sixth place - but is now less than a point behind compatriot Nick Matthew, the No5 behind third-placed Frenchman Gregory Gaultier and No4 David Palmer, from Australia.

Egypt's Wael El Hindi is the highest mover, returning to his career-high ninth place after reaching the Tournament of Champions' quarter-finals.

Englishman Lee Beachill, who makes his first PSA Tour appearance this year at the Case Swedish Open next week after undergoing hernia surgery early in the New Year, returns to the top ten - at 10 - for the first time for almost a year.

A three-place jump to 15 is achieved this month by Adrian Grant, the English left-hander who won the Comfort Inn Open in Vancouver last month.
   

TOP TWENTY PSA JUNE 2007
Rank	Prev	Player	Pts	Ctry
1	[1]	Amr Shabana	1116	Egy
2é	[3]	Ramy Ashour	1073	Egy
3ê	[2]	David Palmer	961	Aus
4	[4]	Gregory Gaultier	826	Fra
5	[5]	Thierry Lincou	596	Fra
6	[6]	Anthony Ricketts	525	Aus
7	[7]	James Willstrop	485	Eng
8	[8]	Nick Matthew	479	Eng
9	[9]	John White	457	Sco
10	[10]	Wael El Hindi	419	Egy
11é	[12]	Karim Darwish	394	Egy
12é	[13]	Stewart Boswell	386	Aus
13ê	[11]	Lee Beachill	380	Eng
14	[14]	Mohammed Abbas	345	Egy
15	[15]	Adrian Grant	332	Eng
16	[16]	Peter Barker	299	Eng
17	[17]	Olli Tuominen	284	Fin
18	[18]	Ong Beng Hee	267	Mas
19	[19]	Azlan Iskandar	245	Mas
20	[20]	Borja Golan	226	Esp
FULL PSA RANKINGS

Shabana on SquashInfo

April 2007:
Shabana extends world number one reign

Roundup from Howard Harding
 

Victory in last month's Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions in New York ensures that Egypt's Amr Shabana extends his reign at the top of the new April World Rankings.

The 27-year-old from Cairo became only the third player in the event's history to successfully defend the prestigious US title - in a triumph at Grand Central Terminal which brought his trophy haul to 16.

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier maintains his career-high No2 position, ahead of an unchanged top six which features Australians David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts at three and six, respectively; France's Thierry Lincou at four; and Egyptian teenager Ramy Ashour in fifth place.

Englishman James Willstrop, who beat higher-seeded compatriot Nick Matthew en-route to winning the ISS Canary Wharf Classic in London last month, overtakes Matthew to rise to seven in the new list.

John White, the 33-year-old Scot who created a personal record by enduring four successive five-game matches at East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf before finally yielding to Willstrop in a courageous 71-minute climax, jumps three places to No9 to make a welcome return to the world top ten.

Egypt's Mohammed Abbas celebrates a career-high No13 ranking in the new list.  The 26-year-old from Giza achieved two notable upsets - beating top seed Nick Matthew and No3 seed Stewart Boswell - to win the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open in Malaysia, his biggest PSA Tour title to date.

But, perhaps the most notable achievement in the April rankings is the long-awaited return to the top ten of Stewart Boswell.  In May 2003, twelve months after reaching a career-high world No4, the Australian was struck down with a mystery back ailment which kept him away from the tour for almost two years. 

By the time he was fit enough to return to the circuit, his ranking had slumped to 300.  But by the end of 2005, he had amassed a further eight PSA Tour titles and was back in the top 20!

A combination of three quarter-final berths in Super Series events since October, plus reaching the final of the Kuala Lumpur Open last month, has brought the 28-year-old from Canberra back amongst the world's elite.
  

TOP TWENTY PSA APRIL 2007
Rank	Prev	Player	Pts**	Ctry
1	[1]	Amr Shabana	1173	Egy
2	[2]	Gregory Gaultier	883	Fra
3	[3]	David Palmer	870	Aus
4	[4]	Thierry Lincou	751	Fra
5	[5]	Ramy Ashour	690	Egy
6	[6]	Anthony Ricketts	507	Aus
7é	[8]	James Willstrop	485	Eng
8ê	[7]	Nick Matthew	424	Eng
9é	[12]	John White	402	Sco
10é	[11]	Stewart Boswell	386	Aus
11ê	[9]	Karim Darwish	371	Egy
12ê	[10]	Lee Beachill	359	Eng
13é	[14]	Mohammed Abbas	348	Egy
14ê	[13]	Wael El Hindi	326	Egy
15	[15]	Adrian Grant	310	Eng
16é	[18]	Olli Tuominen	284	Fin
17ê	[16]	Ong Beng Hee	275	Mas
18ê	[17]	Peter Barker	254	Eng
19	[19]	Azlan Iskandar	239	Mas
20	[20]	Borja Golan	223	Esp
FULL PSA RANKINGS

Boswell back in top ten

Roundup from Howard Harding
 

France's Gregory Gaultier rises to a career-high No2 in the new March Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings.

The 24-year-old from Aix-en-Provence, who was outside the top ten at the beginning of last year, consistently reached or bettered his seeding position in PSA Tour events throughout 2006 - achieving finals berths on six occasions, including the World Open as eighth seed, and claiming the titles in both the Hungarian Open in October and the US Open in November.

Surprisingly, his 2007 campaign has not gone Gaultier's way, with disappointing runs in the Canadian Classic and Windy City Open, followed by an ankle injury which forced his withdrawal from the current Tournament of Champions in New York.

"I'm happy to have climbed to number two, but my aim is to be number one.

"At the moment, I'm recovering from injury, so I'm not that concerned about the rankings, I'm just trying to work to come back to my best, and training for my next tournaments...

Egypt's Amr Shabana completes an uninterrupted 12 months at the top of the rankings after first reaching No1 in April 2006.  Since then, Shabana has won four PSA Tour titles - including the Windy City Open, his seventh PSA Super Series crown, in January this year.

Gaultier has leapfrogged David Palmer in the March rankings, thus ending the Australian's 12-month hold on the No2 position in the PSA list - despite winning the Swedish Open title earlier this month.

France's Thierry Lincou and Egyptian teenager Ramy Ashour hold onto fourth and fifth places, respectively, while Australia's Anthony Ricketts moves up to No6 after reaching the final of the Windy City Open in January and winning the Virginia Pro Championship - also in the USA - this month.

Englishman James Willstrop rises one place to No8 in the new list, and is joined again in the top ten by England and Pontefract club team-mate Lee Beachill, runner-up in the Virginia Pro Championship.

Lower in the list, another Englishman celebrates a career-high position:  Peter Barker, winner of two PSA Tour titles in 2006 and runner-up in the Oregon Open in the USA this month, leaps two places to 17.
 

TOP TWENTY PSA MARCH 2007
Rank	Prev	Player	Pts**	Ctry
1	[1]	Amr Shabana	1173	Egy
2é	[3]	Gregory Gaultier	850	Fra
3ê	[2]	David Palmer	870	Aus
4	[4]	Thierry Lincou	804	Fra
5	[5]	Ramy Ashour	666	Egy
6é	[7]	Anthony Ricketts	461	Aus
7ê	[6]	Nick Matthew	468	Eng
8é	[9]	James Willstrop	406	Eng
9ê	[8]	Karim Darwish	410	Egy
10é	[12]	Lee Beachill	351	Eng
11	[11]	Stewart Boswell	361	Aus
12ê	[10]	John White	385	Sco
13	[13]	Wael El Hindi	325	Egy
14é	[15]	Mohammed Abbas	292	Egy
15ê	[14]	Adrian Grant	310	Eng
16	[16]	Ong Beng Hee	290	Mas
17é	[19]	Peter Barker	234	Eng
18	[18]	Olli Tuominen	245	Fin
19ê	[17]	Azlan Iskandar	277	Mas
20	[20]	Borja Golan	208	Esp
FULL PSA RANKINGS    ** tbc

Gaultier's Ranking History
from SquashInfo

Amr Shabana ranking history
 

Gregory Gaultier ranking history
 

Ramy Ashour ranking history
 

more player info from SquashInfo

Shabana still top, Matthew into top five

TOP TWENTY PSA DEC 2006
Rank	Prev	Player	Pts	Ctry
1	[1]	Amr Shabana	1346	Egy
2	[2]	David Palmer	1124	Aus
3	[3]	Thierry Lincou	881	Fra
4é	[5]	Gregory Gaultier	756	Fra
5é	[7]	Nick Matthew	530	Eng
6	[6]	Anthony Ricketts	519	Aus
7é	[9]	Ramy Ashour	510	Egy
8ê	[4]	James Willstrop	496	Eng
9é	[10]	Karim Darwish	437	Egy
10ê	[8]	Lee Beachill	425	Eng
11	[11]	John White	392	Sco
12	[12]	Stewart Boswell	372	Aus
13é	[14]	Azlan Iskandar	322	Mas
14ê	[13]	Adrian Grant	304	Eng
15é	[17]	Wael El Hindi	286	Egy
16	[16]	Olli Tuominen	284	Fin
17é	[18]	Mohammed Abbas	275	Egy
18ê	[15]	Ong Beng Hee	255	Mas
19é	[20]	Peter Barker	239	Eng
20ê	[19]	Graham Ryding	234	Can
FULL PSA RANKINGS

November 2006:
Ramy Reaches Top Ten

Following his sensational run to the final of the Hong Kong Open, Egypt's world junior champion Ramy Ashour sees himself elevated to the world's top ten in the new November rankings ...  

October 2006:
Peter Nicol Bows Out on a Century and a Half!
Howard Harding reports

Amr Shabana makes his mark on the new October Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings as world number one for the seventh month.

But more than a year before the Egyptian made his debut in the list at 262, Britain's Peter Nicol made his entry in the world top ten.

And today, the 33-year-old from London who retired from the PSA Tour last month, makes his final appearance in the rankings at No6 – marking his 150th successive month in the world's top ten!

"I get a strange feeling when I think of this achievement – this incredible twelve-and-a-half-year journey in squash - but it's one of which I am immensely proud," said Nicol, who rounded off his professional career in September when he reach the quarter-finals of the Al-Ahram World Open in the spectacular setting by the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt - the scene of his World Open triumph in 1999.

With 49 PSA Tour titles to his name and 60 months at the top of the world rankings, Peter Nicol is one of the most successful squash players of all-time. In March this year, he fought through a world-class field to win the singles gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, later also clinching gold in the Men's Doubles to claim his fourth Games gold medal since 1998.

"One of the vivid memories of my 14 years as CEO of the World Squash Federation came on 13 November 1993," recalls Ted Wallbutton, now the Professional Squash Association's Marketing Executive.

"I was in Doha for the Qatar International and, for the first time, saw Peter Nicol play. His huge talent was obvious and it was no surprise to me that he was in the top 10 just six months later.

"In those 150 months since then that Peter has graced the PSA top 10, he has shown flawless sportsmanship, great charm and effortless wit. His amazing record is unique in Squash and outstanding in any sport - and he has added immeasurably to the reputation of Squash and the PSA.

Victory in the World Open sees David Palmer close the gap behind Shabana in the October list. The second-placed Australian was knocked out of last month's semi-finals of the Dunlop British Open by Thierry Lincou, but stretches his lead above the third-placed Frenchman who ended as runner up in Nottingham.

Anthony Ricketts, the Super Series Finals champion who was a surprise first round casualty in the British Open, rises to four in the new list, overtaking England's James Willstrop.

The biggest top 20 rise is achieved by Egypt's Ramy Ashour, the record two-times world junior champion who reached the World Open quarter-finals unseeded, then made it into the semi-finals of the St Louis Open. The 19-year-old from Cairo leaps eight places into the top 20 at No13.

The domestic rivalry between Malaysians Ong Beng Hee and Mohd Azlan Iskandar takes an unusual step in the October list, where both are neck-and-neck at No16. Beng Hee fought through to the last eight of the British Open as a qualifier.

Earlier PSA Ranking stories