Farag Reaches Top Four in Men’s November Rankings
By SEAN REUTHE – PSA World Tour
Egypt’s Ali Farag has moved into the world’s top four for the first time in his career after the PSA Men’s World Rankings were released today (November 1).
Farag, a 25-year-old Harvard-graduate, lifted his maiden PSA World Series title last month at the U.S. Open Presented by Macquarie Investment Management, shortly after his wife, Nour El Tayeb, won her first World Series title on the same night in Philadelphia, ensuring that they became the first married couple in sporting history ever to win the same major sports title on the same day.
A week later, Farag made it to the final of the Channel VAS Championships at St George’s Hill, however he fell to the man he beat in the U.S. Open final, Mohamed ElShorbagy, who stays at No.3 but cuts the points gap between himself and World No.2 Karim Abdel Gawad.
Farag and ElShorbagy will meet for the third tournament in a row when they go head-to-head in the first of tonight’s Qatar Classic quarter-final fixtures, with their match scheduled to take place at 17:00 local time (GMT+3) on SQUASHTV and Eurosport Player.
Frenchman Gregory Gaultier stays at World No.1, while three-time World Champion Nick Matthew drops a place to No.5 – his lowest World Ranking in 12 months.
Egyptian trio Marwan ElShorbagy, Tarek Momen and Fares Dessouky take the No.6, No.7 and No.8 spots, respectively, with Dessouky sitting at a career-high ranking. New Zealand’s Paul Coll also moves up a spot to a career-high No.9 ranking, while England’s James Willstrop falls three places to close out the top 10.
Egypt’s Ramy Ashour stays at No.11 ahead of Simon Rösner (No.12) and Mohamed Abouelghar (No.13), with Peru’s Diego Elias and England’s Daryl Selby swapping places to sit at No.14 and No.15, respectively.
Elsewhere in the top 20, Mexico’s Cesar Salazar moves up two places to occupy No.17 – a career-best ranking – trading places with Australia’s Cameron Pilley, who falls to No.19.
Former World No.3 Omar Mosaad claims the last place in the top 20 at the expense of compatriot Zahed Mohamed after his semi-final finish at the U.S. Open – his first World Series semi-final since March 2016 – saw his ranking increase by 11 places.
PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – November 2017
Pictures by: PSA World Tour