Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy has broken back into the top five for the first time since December 2018 after the PSA Men’s World Rankings for April were released yesterday.
ElShorbagy, 27, captured the third major title of his career when he overcame defending champion Fares Dessouky in the final of the Black Ball Squash Open last month in Cairo.
ElShorbagy features in the top five along with World No.1 Ali Farag, his older brother, Mohamed (No.2), World Champion Tarek Momen (No.3) and New Zealand’s Paul Coll (NZL), who he defeated in the quarter-finals at the Black Ball Sporting Club.
Meanwhile, former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad drops out of the top five as his issues with a heel problem continued in Cairo, while Dessouky moves up to a career-high ranking of World No.7, with Peru’s Diego Elias dropping a spot to No.8.
Welshman Joel Makin – a semi-finalist in Cairo – stays at No.9, while Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez completes the top 10.
Mohamed Abouelghar (No.11), Mostafa Asal (No.12), Saurav Ghosal (No.13), Mazen Hesham (No.14) and Gregoire Marche (No.15) retain their rankings, while Zahed Salem moves up two places after reaching a first PSA World Tour Platinum quarter-final at the Black Ball Open.
Philadelphia-based Amanda Sobhy became the first US-born player in history to reach the top five of the PSA World Rankings in the women’s rankings.
Sobhy, 27, reached her third major PSA World Tour final when she finished as runner-up at the Black Ball Squash Open last month and that run to the title decider has seen her move up two places in the rankings to reach No.5 and write her name into the history books.
Sobhy becomes the first US player to feature inside the top five since Natalie Grainger in January 2010. It’s also Sobhy’s highest World Ranking since a ruptured Achilles sustained in March 2017 saw her spend almost a year out of the sport, which saw her ranking plummet as she fell as low as World No.30.
Sobhy switches places with Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy, while Nour El Sherbini stays at World No.1 for a sixth successive month. She is followed by Nouran Gohar (No.2), Camille Serme (No.3), Nour El Tayeb (No.4) and Sarah-Jane Perry (No.6)
New Zealand’s Joelle King stays at No.8 ahead of Salma Hany, who moves up a place to a career-high No.9 ranking, and Tesni Evans, who completes the top 10.
India’s Joshna Chinappa stays at No.11, while USA’s Olivia Blatchford Clyne moves up a place to match her career-best ranking of No.12. Nele Gilis moves the other way down to No.13, while Rowan Elaraby and Alison Waters round off the top 15.
Yathreb Adel drops to No.16, while Belgium’s Tinne Gilis rises to a career-best ranking of No.17. Nadine Shahin drops to No.18, but there is a rise up the rankings for Canada’s Hollie Naughton, who reaches a career high of No.19. Sabrina Sobhy is the final member of the world’s top 20.
In terms of the biggest mover, Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk has risen 159 places to No.215 after reaching the semi-finals of the Chairman Cup in March. New Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts has also enjoyed a rapid rise up the rankings, moving 145 spots to No.229 after claiming her first PSA title at the Royal Oak Open, which marked her first appearance on the PSA Tour since 2019.
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