Gaultier Maintains World No1 Ranking
1 May 2014
French star Gregory Gaultier has remained on top of the PSA World Squash Rankings for the second consecutive month, maintaining a slender advantage over England's Nick Matthew in the May rankings.
Gaultier, who was joint world No1 with Matthew in February, regained outright control of the top spot in April and remains the No1 ranked squash player in the world following his semi-final finish at last month's PSA World Series El Gouna International Open in Egypt.
The biggest mover inside the top ten is four-time World Champion Amr Shabana. The 34-year-old Egyptian continues his recent resurgence by climbing three places to No5.
Shabana began 2014 ranked nine, but victory in January's Tournament of Champions, semi-final finishes at the Motor City Open, Case Swedish Open and El Gouna International - plus title honours at the recent Grasshopper Cup - have seen him claim his highest ranking since 2011.
Elsewhere in the top 20, Egypt's Marwan Elshorbagy climbs to a career-high world No19, breaking into the top 20 for the first time in his career thanks to claiming the runner-up berth at April's Northern Ontario Open.
"To be in the top 20 players in the world means a lot to me," said Elshorbagy.
"The current generation of players is one of the strongest that there has ever been in the history of squash so it feels great to be in the top 20 while they are still playing.
"I have been working very hard for this and to achieve it at such a young age means even more and it will hopefully prove to be a big confidence boost, especially with the British Open coming up.
"I owe a lot to my dad, my mum and my brother because without their support I wouldn't have done it and my goal now is to keep improving my game and improve my ranking and hopefully I can join the top 10 soon."