Ramy Tightens Grip On World No1 Ranking

Success in last month's Allam British Open has strengthened Ramy Ashour's grip on the world number one ranking, according to the June Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings which are published today by the Professional Squash Association.

The formidable 25-year-old from Cairo became the first Egyptian for almost 50 years to win the sport's historic title last week, falling to his knees on the all-glass court on the Hull City Football Club pitch at the KC Stadium in high emotion after clinching his eighth successive PSA World Tour title and extending his unbeaten run into a second year.

"Winning this prestigious title is one of the happiest moments of my life, if not the happiest," said Ashour afterwards. "Winning this title is really big for me. It's something I will always remember."

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, runner-up in Hull, moves up to No2 - his highest ranking for more than a year.

England's James Willstrop, whose 2013 British Open campaign in his home county of Yorkshire was stopped by Ashour in the semi-finals, rises to third place - whilst fellow countryman Nick Matthew, the former world champion who was hoping to extend his English record in the event to a fourth title, slips to No4, his lowest ranking since 2009.

Stunning success in Hull, where he upset world No7 Peter Barker to reach the British Open quarter-finals for the first time, sees Tarek Momen back in the top ten at a career-equalling-high No10. The 25-year-old from Cairo's rise also ensures that there are five Egyptians in the top ten for the sixth month in a row.

Australian Cameron Pilley, who became the second unseeded player in the British Open last eight after ousting sixth seed Mohamed Elshorbagy, rises two places to 13 to celebrate his highest ranking since February 2011.

Stephen Coppinger continues his march up the rankings to reach a best-ever world No16. The Dublin-born 28-year-old, who in February became the first South African to make the men's world top 20 since the late 70s, reached the 15th Tour final of his career last month at the Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta in Guatemala.

Almost five years after briefly making the top 20 for the first time, Miguel Angel Rodriguez cements his status as the highest-ranked Colombian of time by leaping four places to a career-high world No19.

A member of the PSA since 2002, Rodriguez celebrated one of the biggest wins of his career at the Sporta event in Guatemala City, beating Coppinger in the final to bring his Tour title haul to 22.

June 2013 top 20 (inc. points average):

1	[1]	Ramy Ashour	EGY	1,761
2	[3]	Gregory Gaultier	FRA	1,109
3	[4]	James Willstrop	ENG	982
4	[2]	Nick Matthew	ENG	941
5	[6]	Karim Darwish	EGY	705
6	[5]	Mohamed Elshorbagy	EGY	674
7	[7]	Peter Barker	ENG	520
8	[8]	Amr Shabana	EGY	514
9	[9]	Borja Golan	ESP	471
10	[11]	Tarek Momen	EGY	459
11	[10]	Omar Mosaad	EGY	410
12	[12]	Simon Rosner	GER	347
13	[15]	Cameron Pilley	AUS	343
14	[13]	Daryl Selby	ENG	336
15	[14]	Alister Walker	BOT	280
16	[18]	Stephen Coppinger	RSA	268
17	[16]	Tom Richards	ENG	267
18	[17]	Laurens Jan Anjema	NED	263
19	[23]	Miguel Angel Rodriguez	COL	260
20	[19]	Saurav Ghosal	IND	259