James Willstrop Leaps To Two In New World Rankings

Frenchman Thierry Lincou completes a full year at the top of the Dunlop PSA Men's World Rankings by retaining his No1 position in the new December list announced by the Professional Squash Association - but 22-year-old James Willstrop leaps six places to a career-high No2 to become the highest-ranked Englishman for the first time.

Willstrop, the former world junior champion from Pontefract in Yorkshire, established another major milestone in his glittering international squash career last month when he won the Qatar Classic, a PSA Super Series Platinum event, in Doha. The success, as eighth seed, came only weeks after the tall 6' 4" Yorkshireman contested his first British Open final, as the No7 seed.

After being England's third highest-ranked player for well over a year, Willstrop now finds himself ahead of his Pontefract club-mate Lee Beachill, who remains at five, and England team-mate Peter Nicol, who slips to eight.

Australia's Anthony Ricketts holds onto third place, while his compatriot David Palmer, runner-up in Doha, moves back up to No4. Englishman Nick Matthew also moves up in the new list, returning to the top ten at ten.

Finland's Olli Tuominen records a career-high ranking in December, moving up a single place to 14.

A Briton, an Australian and an Egyptian bow out of the top twenty - to be replaced by a Briton, an Australian and an Egyptian! Egypt's Wael El Hindi makes his top twenty debut at 19 after reaching the final of the Malaysian Open last month.

Alex Gough, the former world No5 from Wales who fought his way through to the Qatar Classic quarter-finals as a qualifier, rises nine places to 17 after dropping outside the top twenty exactly two years ago.

Australia's Stewart Boswell also makes his long-awaited return to the elite. The 27-year-old from Canberra, who returned to the Tour at the beginning of this year after a long back injury layoff, is now at 20. The former world No4 began the year ranked 299, but picked up eight PSA Tour titles in a remarkable comeback trail which also included quarter-final berths in the British Open and Qatar Classic as a qualifier.

1 [1] Thierry Lincou FRA
2 [8] James Willstrop ENG
3 [3] Anthony Ricketts AUS
4 [6] David Palmer AUS
5 [5] Lee Beachill ENG
6 [2] Jonathon Power CAN
7 [4] Amr Shabana EGY
8 [7] Peter Nicol ENG
9 [9] John White SCO
10 [11] Nick Matthew ENG
11 [12] Gregory Gaultier FRA
12 [10] Karim Darwish EGY
13 [13] Graham Ryding CAN
14 [15] Olli Tuominen FIN
15 [14] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
16 [17] Ong Beng Hee MAS
17 [26] Alex Gough WAL
18 [16] Shahid Zaman PAK
19 [21] Wael El Hindi EGY
20 [25] Stewart Boswell AUS