Men: Marwan breaks back into Top Five
Women: Sobhy first American in top five
Philadelphia-based Amanda Sobhy has become the first US-born player ever to reach the top five of the PSA World Rankings.
Sobhy, 27, reached her third major PSA World Tour final when she finished as runner-up at the CIB PSA 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 #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 #30.
Sobhy switches places with Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy, while Nour El Sherbini stays at World #1 for a sixth successive month. She is followed by Nouran Gohar, Camille Serme, Nour El Tayeb and Sarah-Jane Perry
New Zealand’s Joelle King stays at #8 ahead of Salma Hany, who moves up a place to a career-high #9 ranking, and Tesni Evans, who completes the top 10.
India’s Joshna Chinappa stays at #11, while USA’s Olivia Blatchford Clyne moves up a place to match her career-best ranking of #12. Nele Gilis moves the other way down to #13, while Rowan Elaraby and Alison Waters round off the top 15.
Yathreb Adel drops to #16, while Belgium’s Tinne Gilis rises to a career-best ranking of #17. Nadine Shahin drops to #18, but there is a rise up the rankings for Canada’s Hollie Naughton, who reaches a career high of #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 #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 #229 after claiming her first PSA title at the Royal Oak Open, which marked her first appearance on the PSA Tour since 2019.
Marwan breaks back into top five
Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy has broken back into the top five for the first time since December 2018 in the PSA Men’s World Rankings for April.
Marwan, 27, captured the third major title of his career when he overcame defending champion Fares Dessouky in the final of the CIB PSA 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 ElShorbagy, World Champion Tarek Momen and New Zealand’s Paul Coll, who he defeated in the quarter-finals at the Black Ball Sporting Club.
Meanwhile, former World #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 #7, with Peru’s Diego Elias dropping a spot to #8.
Welshman Joel Makin – a semi-finalist in Cairo – stays at #9, while Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez completes the top 10.
Mohamed Abouelghar, Mostafa Asal, Saurav Ghosal, Mazen Hesham and Gregoire Marche retain their rankings, while Zahed Salem moves up two places after reaching a first Platinum quarter-final at the Black Ball Open.
Omar Mosaad and James Willstrop both fall a place to #17 and #18 while Adrian Waller and Cesar Salazar round off the top 20.
The biggest mover on the men’s tour this month is 17-year-old Egyptian Ahmed Wael. He rises 462 places to #275 after featuring as a wildcard at the Black Ball Open, while his fellow wildcard at that event, Ahmed Ismail, moves up 408 places to #267.
