Peter Nicol - Reclaims World #1

May 1, 2004 by Howard Harding © 2004
match sequence © 2004 Debra Tessier

White, Nicol, Lincou in a Virtual Tie at 1-2-3
[top Americas players]

John White moves back to #2 spot as Peter Nicol climbs back to #1, photo © 2004 Debra Tessier

England's Peter Nicol returns to No1 in the new May Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, announced Friday (30 April) by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), pushing his predecessor John White, the Scot who headed the list for two months, down to second place.

After a miserable end to last year, Nicol ended an unbroken two-year reign as world No1 in January when he slumped to three in the New Year list. However, the 31-year-old from London bounced back and claimed the titles in his first two events of the year, the Kuwait Open and Tournament of Champions, then consolidated this success by clinching the PSA Qatar Masters trophy in Doha last week.

France's Thierry Lincou and England's Lee Beachill, both beaten semi-finalists in Doha, hold onto third and fourth positions, respectively, while Australia's David Palmer, runner-up in the PSA Masters, climbs back to five.

England's Nick Matthew celebrates a rise to a career-high No9 in the new list, while France's Renan Lavigne returns to the top twenty at 20.

1 [2] Peter Nicol ENG
2 [1] John White SCO
3 [3] Thierry Lincou FRA
4 [4] Lee Beachill ENG
5 [6] David Palmer AUS
6 [5] Karim Darwish EGY
7 [7] Amr Shabana EGY
8 [8] Jonathon Power CAN
9 [10] Nick Matthew ENG
10 [9] Anthony Ricketts AUS
11 [12] Gregory Gaultier FRA
12 [11] Joseph Kneipp AUS
13 [13] James Willstrop ENG
14 [14] Ong Beng Hee MAS
15 [15] Omar Elborolossy EGY
16 [16] Graham Ryding CAN
17 [18] Mohammed Abbas EGY
18 [17] Adrian Grant ENG
19 [19] Mansoor Zaman PAK
20 [21] Renan Lavigne FRA

Other Players from the Americas in the top 100 (May 1 2004):

32 (32) Shahier Razik CAN
50 (49) Viktor Berg CAN
63 (64) Matthew Giuffre CAN
68 (69) Rafael Alarcon BRA
76 (76) Shawn DeLierre CAN
77 (76) Eric Galvez MEX
80 (80) Nick Kyme BER
83 (82) Ian Power CAN
88 (89) David Phillips CAN

and the top Americans:
117 (128) Jamie Crombie USA
118 (122) Beau River USA

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