Boosted by last month's success in the biggest PSA World Tour event of the year so far, Egypt's Karim Darwish has extended his lead at the top of the new October Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published by the Professional Squash Association.
Darwish's appearance in the climax of the Super Series Platinum Sky Open in his home town of Cairo marked his second Tour final appearance since becoming world number one in January – but gave the 28-year-old his first title triumph when he beat French rival Gregory Gaultier in a thrilling five-game marathon.
Gaultier strengthens his grip on second place in the list – ahead of Egyptians Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour, who remain at three and four, respectively, while Australia's David Palmer is in sixth place.
Ankle surgery in April led James Willstrop to drop out of the top ten in the middle of the year. But a sensational comeback run by the Englishman, including semi-final berths in the CIMB Malaysian Open and Sky Open and his second successive appearance in the final of the British Open, has pushed Willstrop up to seven in the new list.
But two more Egyptians are also celebrating notable rises – Wael El Hindi leaping seven places to No13 after reaching the Sky Open quarter-finals, against the odds; and 18-year-old Mohamed El Shorbagy, who continues his meteoric rise up the rankings to register a career-best No 14.
While Ong Beng Hee holds his top 20 position at 19, fellow Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar returns to the elite group by jumping three places to 20.
1[1] Karim Darwish EGY
2[2] Gregory Gaultier FRA
3[3] Amr Shabana EGY
4[4] Ramy Ashour EGY
5[5] Nick Matthew ENG
6[6] David Palmer AUS
7[9] James Willstrop ENG
8[7] Thierry Lincou FRA
9[8] Peter Barker ENG
10[11] Adrian Grant ENG
11[10] Borja Golan ESP
12[12] Alister Walker ENG
13[20] Wael El Hindi EGY
14[15] Mohamed El Shorbagy EGY
15[13] Laurens Jan Anjema NED
16[15] Stewart Boswell AUS
17[17] Cameron Pilley AUS
18[14] Aamir Atlas Khan PAK
19[19] Ong Beng Hee MAS
20[23] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
Issued by iSPORTmedia