Gregory Gaultier Confirmed As World Number One

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier is confirmed as the new world number one, for the first time, in the November Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published by the Professional Squash Association.

It was success in reaching last month's final of the Cathay Pacific Gale Well Hong Kong Open that clinched the status for the 26-year-old from Aix-en-Provence, who first joined the PSA in 1999.

Since when, Gaultier has reached 36 finals on the PSA World Tour and won 16 titles, including the US Open, British Open, Tournament of Champions and Internationaux de France. In March this year, he won the Super Series Finals title for the second successive year and is currently competing in the Kuwait World Open, the premier event on the PSA Tour which he is bidding to win for the first time after finishing as runner-up twice.

Gaultier becomes the second Frenchman to top the PSA world list, and the 14th player of all-time.

"I have been aiming at this for the past two or three years - I feel really confident being number one," said Gaultier during the Kuwait World Open. "It's a relief that I have finally achieved this goal. Now I'm not running after it - I can now just enjoy my squash.

"When I got back from Hong Kong, there was a lot of media interest at home - which was nice - and I tried to do everything possible."

Amr Shabana, winner of the 2009 Hong Kong Open title for the fourth year in a row, rises to two in the new list, while former number one Karim Darwish falls to three.

England's Nick Matthew, who celebrated a world No5 ranking for the first time almost three years ago, finally moves up to a best-ever fourth place - boosted by winning his second British Open crown in September.

Reigning World Open champion Ramy Ashour slips to No5 in the November list, while Englishman James Willstrop rises to No6, his highest ranking since February.

Cameron Pilley and Daryl Selby also have cause for celebration: Australian Pilley, from New South Wales, moves up two places to a career-high 15, while Englishman Selby - who celebrates his 27th birthday today - bursts into the top 20 for the first time to a career-best 17.

The biggest jump in the top 20 is achieved by Mohd Azlan Iskandar. The 27-year-old leaps seven places to No13 to become the highest-ranked Malaysian in the list.

November top 20 (inc. points average):

1 [2] Gregory Gaultier FRA 1014
2 [3] Amr Shabana EGY 873
3 [1] Karim Darwish EGY 869
4 [5] Nick Matthew ENG 661
5 [4] Ramy Ashour EGY 593
6 [7] James Willstrop ENG 537
7 [6] David Palmer AUS 491
8 [8] Thierry Lincou FRA 449
9 [9] Peter Barker ENG 378
10 [11] Borja Golan ESP 333
11 [10] Adrian Grant ENG 318
12 [12] Alister Walker ENG 316
13 [20] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 274
14 [18] Aamir Atlas Khan PAK 263
15 [17] Cameron Pilley AUS 254
16 [13] Wael El Hindi EGY 253
17 [15] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 242
17 [21] Daryl Selby ENG 242
19 [19] Ong Beng Hee MAS 235
20 [16] Stewart Boswell AUS 234