At 34, Nick Matthew climbs back above Gregory Gaultier to grab second place in PSA world rankings
By NATHAN CLARKE – Squash Mad Correspondent
England’s Nick Matthew, the 34-year-old who won three back-to-back PSA World Tour events throughout February and March, has moved up one place in the April PSA Rankings to occupy the World No.2 slot, overtaking long-time adversary Gregory Gaultier in the process.
Matthew’s rise comes courtesy of a trio of triumphs that saw him record impressive wins over Gaultier in the final of February’s CASE Swedish Open, following that up with a dominant performance over World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in the final of the Windy City Open in Chicago, before winning a third straight title with a comprehensive victory against world No.10 Simon Rösner in last week’s Canary Wharf Classic.
Elsewhere inside the top ten Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez continues his recent impressive rise through the rankings, moving up one place to become the first South American player ever to break into the top five, overtaking world champion Ramy Ashour to occupy the World No.5 ranking.
Marwan Elshorbagy, younger brother of World No.1 Mohamed, continues his push for a top ten place, moving up two positions to World No.12 courtesy of a semi-final finish at the Windy City Open while the man he beat in the quarter-finals of that event, Karim Abdel Gawad, also moves up two places to World No.18.
A disappointing quarter-final finish at the Canary Wharf Classic, which followed a second round exit at the Windy City Open, sees former World No.1 James Willstrop fall three places to World No.16, his lowest ranking since 2003.
PSA World Rankings – Top 20 – April 2015:
Picture by STEVE LINE (www.squashpics.com). Graphic courtesy of PSA