Egyptians tussle at the top of the rankings
By SEAN REUTHE
World Champion Raneem El Welily has closed the gap between herself and current World No.1 Nour El Sherbini after the PSA Women’s World Rankings for January were released today (January 1).
El Welily, 28, defeated El Sherbini in the final of the women’s PSA World Championships last month to capture the most prestigious title on the women’s Tour for the first time in her career.
Despite her final defeat, El Sherbini retains top spot for a 21st successive month but now sits just over 200 ranking points ahead of El Welily in second – having previously led by over 350 points in December – while the rest of the top five is made up of Camille Serme (No.3), Laura Massaro (No.4) and Nouran Gohar (No.5).
Malaysia’s eight-time World Champion Nicol David remains in sixth, while U.S. Open champion Nour El Tayeb’s maiden World Championship semi-final finish last month sees her leapfrog England’s Sarah-Jane Perry to take the No.7 spot.
Perry drops a place to No.8, while Joelle King and Alison Waters take the last two spots inside the top 10.
Annie Au stays at No.11, with Tesni Evans on the rise to reach a career-high ranking of No.12 as United States No.1 Olivia Blatchford falls a place to No.13. Joshna Chinappa moves up to No.14, while Emily Whitlock falls two places to No.15.
The No.16 spot is shared by Victoria Lust and Donna Urquhart, while Salma Hany (No.18), Joey Chan (No.19) and Dipika Pallikal Karthik complete the top 20.
PSA Women’s World Rankings Top 20 – January 2018:
Picture by PATRICK LAUSON. Graphic courtesy of PSA