Salma Hany breaks into PSA world top 10 for the first time
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent
Egypt’s Salma Hany has broken into the top 10 of the PSA Women’s World Rankings for the first time following a quarter-final finish at the Manchester Open last month.
The PSA World Rankings had been frozen as a result of the six-month suspension due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. But the rankings are unfrozen from today onwards with a new ranking system coming into place to ensure that no player rankings are affected during the restart of the PSA World Tour, which resumed last month at the Manchester Open.
The new system uses a cumulative total of points made up of the top 10 tournament results for men and top nine for women. This differs from the previous system, which divided the total number of points a player had accumulated over a 12-month period by the number of tournaments played to give an average score.
In addition, to safeguard players’ rankings during the pandemic, the number of months counting towards the ranking system will be temporarily increased. Rankings from October 1, 2020 to January 21, 2021 will include points earned in tournaments from March 2019 to date.
Points will then gradually come off in a staggered rhythm from February 1, 2021, with the normal 12-month rolling time period expected to return by 1 July 2021.
The 24-year-old Hany overtakes India’s Joshna Chinappa to secure the No.10 spot, while her compatriot, Nouran Gohar, stays at World No.1 for a fourth month in succession.
The rest of the top 10 remains unchanged, with Nour El Sherbini (No.2), Camille Serme (No.3) and Manchester Open winner Nour El Tayeb (No.4) all hot on the heels of Gohar.
Sarah-Jane Perry stays at No.5 ahead of Hania El Hammamy (No.6), Amanda Sobhy (No.7), Joelle King (No.8) and Tesni Evans (No.9).
Belgium’s Nele Gilis is the other player inside the top 20 to move up the rankings, with the 24-year-old rising two spots to a career-high No.14 ranking following a second round finish in Manchester.
England’s Alison Waters and Egypt’s Rowan Elaraby drop to No.15 and No.16, respectively. Nadine Shahin (No.17), Tinne Gilis (No.18), Nada Abbas (No.19) and Colime Aumard make up the rest of the top 20.
New Zealander Lauren Clarke is the biggest mover on the women’s tour this month, rising 29 places to No.278.
PSA Women’s World Rankings Top 20 – October 2020.
Pictures courtesy of PSA