PSA: Matthew extends lead at the top

Matthew Extends World Number One Lead

Title success in his third PSA World Tour event of the year last month has extended Englishman Nick Matthew‘s lead at the top of the Dunlop PSA Men’s World Squash Rankings, according to the April list published today by theProfessional Squash Association.

The world champion from Sheffield successfully defended his ISS Canary Wharf Classic crown on home soil in London to bring up the 20th Tour title of his career.

In an unchanged top ten, Matthew leads Egyptian rival Ramy Ashour, with fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish – winner of last month’s CIMB KL Open – in third place, and England’s James Willstrop at No4.

The first riser in the new list is David Palmer, the illustrious Australian who is a two-time World Open and four-timeBritish Open champion. The US-based 34-year-old reached two Tour finals in North America in March, winning the Rocky Mountain Open in Calgary to secure his 27th career Tour title. Palmer moves up two places to No11.

Hisham Mohd Ashour, the 28-year-old Egyptian who beat Palmer to lift the National Bank Financial Group Open title in Canada, rises to a career-high No14 – reducing the gap behind his second-placed younger brother Ramy Ashour.

But Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal will be celebrating his 17th birthday today in style after rocketing 133 places to a career-high world No 149 following his sensational title victory this week in the PSF-CDA Pakistan International Circuit No1 in Islamabad where, unseeded, he knocked out the fourth, second and top seeds to win his first Tour title.

April 2011 top 20 (inc. points average):

1	[1]	Nick Matthew	ENG	1,568
2	[2]	Ramy Ashour	EGY	1,296
3	[3]	Karim Darwish	EGY	989
4	[4]	James Willstrop	ENG	897
5	[5]	Amr Shabana	EGY	832
6	[6]	Gregory Gaultier	FRA	782
7	[7]	Peter Barker	ENG	618
8	[8]	Thierry Lincou	FRA	557
9	[9]	Mohamed El Shorbagy	EGY	527
10	[10]	Mohd Azlan Iskandar	MAS	439
11	[13]	David Palmer	AUS	409
12	[11]	Daryl Selby	ENG	384
13	[12]	Laurens Jan Anjema	NED	357
14	[17]	Hisham Mohd Ashour	EGY	352
15	[14]	Cameron Pilley	AUS	350
16	[15]	Wael El Hindi	EGY	348
17	[16]	Omar Mosaad	EGY	347
18	[18]	Adrian Grant	ENG	288
19	[19]	Alister Walker	ENG	280
20	[20]	Stewart Boswell	AUS	269

For full list – see www.psa-squash.com