Ashour toppled as Matthew returns to summit after near two-year wait
By MICHAEL CATLING – Squash Mad Reporter
World Champion Nick Matthew has leapfrogged Egypt’s Ramy Ashour and Frenchman Gregory Gaultier to top the first world rankings of 2014.
The 33-year-old Englishman, who won his maiden Hong Kong Open title in December, returns to the spot he vacated in March 2012 and in doing so, ends Ashour’s year-long stay at the top of the rankings.
A delighted Matthew said: “I’m playing the best squash of my career at the moment and that’s something I want to carry through into 2014 with the Commonwealth Games coming to the UK,”
“Twenty thirteen was a really special year for me. Winning the World Championships in Manchester was amazing and winning in Hong Kong after so many years of trying was a great way to end the year.
“I got married as well which was one of the most important things so it was a great year for me all round.
“To now start the year as world number one makes that experience even better. I’m going to enjoy being back at number one and I’m looking forward to hopefully continuing that success in 2014.”
Gaultier maintains his number two ranking for an eighth consecutive month, while Ashour drops down to third after an injury-hit end to 2013. The rest of the top 10 remains unchanged, while Egypt’s Tarek Momen swaps places with Omar Mosaad to move up one place to 11th.
Elsewhere, German Simon Rosner has risen to 13th on the list after winning the Alwatan & Asnan International and Egyptian 22-year-old Karim Abdel Gawad celebrates the New Year with his best ever ranking after rising three places to 16th.
In the WSA rankings, Nicol David extends her lead at the top to over 1,000 points, after winning her eight title at the Hong Kong Open last month. Massaro holds on to second place ahead of Raneem El Weleily, while Camille Serme relinquishes her spot in the top five as she drops down three places to eighth.
New Zealand’s Joelle King reclaims the number five spot, while Low Wee Wern and Madeline Perry move up to sixth and seventh respectively.
Former world number two Jenny Duncalf slips back to ninth, while Annie Au (pictured left) rises to 13th after making the semi-final stage in Hong Kong. Indian Joshana Chinappa rounds off the top 20, after climbing six places following her quarter-final loss at the final World Series event of 2013.
Pictures by Steve Cubbins (SquashSite) and Michael Catling
PSA World Rankings (January 2014)
| Rank | Name | Country | Average | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 [3] | Nick Matthew | England | 1329.000 | 10 |
| 2 [2] | Gregory Gaultier | France | 1297.500 | 11 |
| 3 [1] | Ramy Ashour | Egypt | 1187.500 | 8 |
| 4 [4] | Mohamed Elshorbagy | Egypt | 904.500 | 12 |
| 5 [5] | James Willstrop | England | 845.500 | 10 |
| 6 [6] | Karim Darwish | Egypt | 678.000 | 12 |
| 7 [7] | Borja Golan | Spain | 668.500 | 13 |
| 8 [8] | Peter Barker | England | 531.500 | 12 |
| 9 [9] | Amr Shabana | Egypt | 462.500 | 9 |
| 10 [10] | Daryl Selby | England | 446.500 | 12 |
| 11 [12] | Tarek Momen | Egypt | 439.000 | 13 |
| 12 [11] | Omar Mosaad | Egypt | 438.500 | 13 |
| 13 [16] | Simon Rosner | Germany | 429.500 | 13 |
| 14 [13] | Miguel Angel Rodriguez | Colombia | 363.500 | 13 |
| 15 [15] | Saurav Ghosal | India | 324.000 | 12 |
| 16 [19] | Karim Abdel Gawad | Egypt | 307.500 | 12 |
| 17 [18] | Laurens Jan Anjema | Netherlands | 306.818 | 15 |
| 18 [14] | Cameron Pilley | Australia | 302.500 | 12 |
| 19 [17] | Alister Walker | Botswana | 280.500 | 13 |
| 20 [20] | Stephen Coppinger | South Africa | 266.818 | 14 |
| 21 [23] | Adrian Grant | England | 266.364 | 14 |
| 22 [21] | Ong Beng Hee | Malaysia | 245.000 | 13 |
| 23 [22] | Tom Richards | England | 231.818 | 14 |
| 24 [29] | Marwan Elshorbagy | Egypt | 231.500 | 12 |
| 25 [24] | Mathieu Castagnet | France | 231.000 | 11 |
| 26 [25] | Chris Simpson | England | 228.636 | 14 |
| 27 [26] | Nciolas Mueller | Switzerland | 216.818 | 15 |
| 28 [27] | Olli Tuominen | Finland | 215.909 | 14 |
| 29 [31] | Adrian Waller | England | 207.000 | 13 |
| 30 [28] | Gregoire Marche | France | 195.500 | 13 |
| 31 [30] | Omar Abdel Meguid | Egypt | 190.000 | 13 |
| 32 [32] | Max Lee | Hong Kong | 179.500 | 13 |
| 33 [33] | Ryan Cuskelly | Australia | 179.000 | 13 |
| 34 [39] | Abdullah Al Muzayen | Kuwait | 176.500 | 11 |
| 35 [36] | Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan | Malaysia | 175.455 | 14 |
| 36 [37] | Henrik Mustonen | Finland | 171.500 | 13 |
| 37 [34] | Joe Lee | England | 170.455 | 14 |
| 37 [34] | Alan Clyne | Scotland | 170.455 | 15 |
| 39 [38] | Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry | Egypt | 169.500 | 13 |
| 40 [42] | Campbell Grayson | New Zealand | 146.818 | 15 |
| 41 [41] | Leo Au | Hong Kong | 144.500 | 12 |
| 42 [44] | Jonathan Kemp | England | 142.000 | 10 |
| 43 [41] | Cesar Salazar | Mexico | 136.000 | 13 |
| 44 [40] | Julian Illingworth | USA | 135.500 | 13 |
| 45 [48] | Karim Ali Fathi | Egypt | 131.818 | 14 |
| 46 [46] | Mohd Ali Anwar Reda | Egypt | 130.000 | 14 |
| 47 [43] | Shawn Delierre | Canada | 125.500 | 12 |
| 48 [52] | Christopher Gordon | USA | 124.500 | 11 |
| 49 [51] | Martin Knight | New Zealand | 120.000 | 15 |
| 50 [49] | Matthew Karwalski | Australia | 118.000 | 12 |
Click here to view the entire PSA World Tour World Rankings list.
WSA World Rankings (January 2014)
| Rank | Name | Country | Average | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 [1] | Nicol David | Malaysia | 2836.88 | 8 |
| 2 [2] | Laura Massaro | England | 1890.81 | 7 |
| 3 [3] | Raneem El Weleily | Egypt | 1676.25 | 9 |
| 4 [4] | Alison Waters | England | 1120.94 | 8 |
| 5 [6] | Joelle King | New Zealand | 987.5 | 8 |
| 6 [8] | Low Wee Wern | Malaysia | 797.812 | 9 |
| 7 [10] | Madeline Perry | Ireland | 788.0 | 11 |
| 8 [5] | Camille Serme | France | 757.188 | 8 |
| 9 [7] | Jenny Duncalf | England | 743.75 | 9 |
| 10 [9] | Natalie Grinham | Netherlands | 670.562 | 9 |
| 11 [11] | Kasey Brown | Australia | 632.667 | 11 |
| 12 [12] | Dipika Pallikal | India | 624.118 | 10 |
| 13 [16] | Annie Au | Hong Kong | 568.188 | 9 |
| 14 [13] | Omneya Abdel Kawy | Egypt | 511.875 | 8 |
| 15 [14] | Rachael Grinham | Australia | 499.947 | 12 |
| 16 [15] | Nour El Sherbini | Egypt | 428.75 | 4 |
| 17 [17] | Sarah-Jane Perry | England | 408.312 | 8 |
| 18 [18] | Amanda Sobhy | USA | 395.618 | 10 |
| 19 [20] | Line Hansen | Denmark | 356.765 | 10 |
| 20 [26] | Joshana Chinappa | India | 346.031 | 9 |
| 21 [19] | Nicolette Fernandes | Guyana | 334.676 | 10 |
| 22 [22] | Donna Urquhart | Australia | 321.882 | 10 |
| 23 [21] | Joey Chan | Hong Kong | 320.361 | 11 |
| 24 [23] | Sarah Kippax | England | 318.912 | 10 |
| 25 [25] | Emma Beddoes | England | 303.765 | 10 |
| 26 [24] | Emily Whitlock | England | 297.667 | 11 |
| 27 [27] | Nour El Tayeb | Egypt | 293.438 | 7 |
| 28 [28] | Aisling Blake | Ireland | 260.395 | 12 |
| 29 [35] | Misaki Kobayashi | Japan | 230.722 | 11 |
| 30 [30] | Victoria Lust | England | 224.188 | 7 |
| 31 [36] | Yathreb Adel | Egypt | 223.0 | 8 |
| 32 [29] | Latesha Khan | USA | 222.853 | 10 |
| 33 [32] | Samantha Cornett | Canada | 222.647 | 10 |
| 34 [33] | Siyoli Waters | South Africa | 221.905 | 14 |
| 35 [38] | Nouran Ahmed Gohar | Egypt | 221.0 | 9 |
| 36 [39] | Tesni Evans | Wales | 219.0 | 10 |
| 37 [31] | Delia Arnold | Malaysia | 209.25 | 9 |
| 38 [40] | Coline Aumard | France | 185.941 | 10 |
| 39 [37] | Heba El Torky | Egypt | 171.281 | 8 |
| 40 [45] | Salma Hany Ibrahim | France | 170.188 | 9 |
| 41 [43] | Lisa Camilleri | Australia | 154.5 | 13 |
| 42 [41] | Lisa Aitken | England | 147.875 | 8 |
| 43 [49] | Lucie Fialova | Czech Republic | 142.579 | 12 |
| 44 [42] | Kylie Lindsay | New Zealand | 141.588 | 10 |
| 45 [47] | Liu Tsz-Ling | Hong Kong | 139.222 | 11 |
| 46 [44] | Amanda Landers-Murphy | New Zealand | 135.938 | 9 |
| 47 [51] | Sabrina Sobhy | USA | 134.222 | 11 |
| 48 [34] | Samantha Teran | Mexico | 134.125 | 7 |
| 49 [53] | Olivia Blatchford | USA | 133.412 | 10 |
| 50 [46] | Megan Craig | New Zealand | 129.75 | 8 |
Click here to view the entire WSA World Tour World Rankings list.