Castagnet Breaks Into World Top 20

While the PSA world top 10 remain unchanged in June, with Frenchman Gregory Gaultier strengthening his grip on the world No1 position after winning last month's Allam British Open, fellow countryman Mathieu Castagnet celebrates his world top 20 debut in the latest list published by the Professional Squash Association.

Gaultier beat England's world No2 Nick Matthew in the final of the 'Wimbledon of Squash', while Egyptian pair Mohamed Elshorbagy and Ramy Ashour, the world No3 and No4 respectively, bowed out at the semi-final stages.

Castagnet is the biggest mover within the top 20, rising five places from No23 to break into the top 20 for the first time in his career to take up position No18.

The 27-year-old from Aix-en-Provence claimed one of the biggest scalps of his career when he beat world No7 Borja Golan en-route to a quarter-final finish at the British Open, his best placing at a PSA World Series event since the 2013 US Open.

"Since I started playing squash, I have always worked really hard to be on top of the rankings," said Castagnet.

"I never been a natural squash talent but I am someone who is a fighter on court and I have trained hard and kept going for the past few years so to reach the top 20 is a great reward, a gift and a dream.

"To be on top of the rankings you have to train hard all year, all day every day. You need to have a good diet, manage your body, work your game plans and your technical aspects - it's just like a job.

"We play between 10 and 13 tournaments a year and you cannot be strong for only one or two tournaments. You have to be consistent at a strong level and I would like to thanks Arnaud Hays, Renan Lavigne, Olivier Guidi, Christophe Labit and Joel Coste for all their support in helping me."