From HOWARD HARDING
Reaching the final of last week’s El Gouna International Squash Open, the third PSA World Series event of the year, sees James Willstrop extend his lead at the top of the 2012 Dunlop PSA World Series Standings.
Runner-up in January’s JP Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York and winner of the North American Openin Virginia in February, Willstrop now boasts a 50-point lead over English rival Nick Matthew, a semi-finalist in El Gouna.
The 2012 El Gouna International was staged on a new all-glass court in the open air at Abu Tig Marina in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna. The $115,000 championship marked the return of international sport to Egypt after the country’s revolution.
Ramy Ashour, who kept the trophy in Egyptian hands after beating Willstrop in the final, moves up to third place in the list – ahead of fourth-placed Frenchman Gregory Gaultier and fellow countryman Karim Darwish, the 2010 champion who lost out to Willstrop in the semi-finals, who is in fifth place.
Egypt’s Amr Shabana, winner of the 2011 ATCO World Series Finals, slips to sixth position after a second round exit in El Gouna – whilst Simon Rosner, the first German to feature in the standings’ top eight, is in seventh place.
Mohamed El Shorbagy, the 21-year-old from Alexandria who is the youngest player in the world’s top 30, leaps four places to No8 after his second quarter-final berth in 2012 at El Gouna.
The top eight players in the list at the end of the year qualify for a place in the 2012 ATCO PSA World Series Finals in London early next year.
The next 2012 PSA World Series event will be the Allam British Open, at the O2 Arena in London, from 14-20 May.
