Nick Matthew - Continues his Ranking Climb

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

Power Regains Momentum, to #6
[top Americas players]

While England's Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill maintain their hold on the top two positions in the new July Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, announced today (30 June) by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), and Jonathon Power edged back upwards to #6, their compatriot Nick Matthew continues his rapid rise up the list by moving up one place to a career-high world No. 8. Australian Joe Kneipp also gained one ranking position, to 11.

Nick Matthew (l) moves to # 8 while Lee Beachill (r) stays at #2 , photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert

London-based Nicol, 31, has now held the No1 spot for three successive months - after regaining the position in May, four months after Frenchman Thierry Lincou ended his two-year unbroken reign at the top. Lincou is at three in the list, behind Beachill.

Matthew has enjoyed whirlwind success on the PSA Tour since breaking into the top 30 in January last year. A semi-final finish in last December's Qatar Classic, followed by a quarter-final berth in the World Open later in the month, led the 23-year-old from Sheffield to making his debut in the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals in London in May - where he claimed an unexpected fourth place after wins over both Nicol and Canada's defending champion Jonathon Power.

Power moves up to sixth place in the July list, behind David Palmer at four - currently the only Australian in the top ten - and Scotland's John White at five. All but one (Lee Beachill) of the players in the top six are former world number ones.

England's Mark Chaloner, President of the PSA, ends a seven-month period outside the top twenty to return to the elite list at 19.

By contrast, Malaysia's former world No7 Ong Beng Hee - winner of his third successive Asian Championship title this month - crashed out of the top twenty to end an unbroken period in the list since making his debut in January 2001.

Among players from the Americas, Mexico's Eric Galvez jumped three points to #73; while the American fortunes lost ground, as the best American (Preston Quick) was ranked #127.

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

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

31 (32) Shahier Razik CAN
58 (58) Viktor Berg CAN
64 (64) Matthew Giuffre CAN
70 (70) Rafael Alarcon BRA
73 (76) Eric Galvez MEX
78 (78) Shawn DeLierre CAN
83 (83) Nick Kyme BER
84 (84) Ian Power CAN
92 (91) David Phillips CAN

and the top Americans:
127 (129) Preston Quick USA
128 (126) Beau River USA

[complete rankings for June]

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