Peruvian Elias Rises To No.15 In Men’s World Rankings

Elias, the former World Junior champion, powered his way past three-time World Champion Nick Matthew – who remains at World No.4 in the latest standings – to reach the last four before losing out to current World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad in a hard fought five-game battle in which the Peruvian took the first two games.
Gawad meanwhile remains at World No.2 for a fifth straight month but has narrowed the gap on World No.1 Gregory Gaultier, with the Frenchman – who missed San Francisco with an ankle injury –  notching up a fifth successive month at the top of the standings while Mohamed ElShorbagy, the man who beat Gawad to the title in San Francisco, remains at World No.3.
Ali Farag (5), Marwan ElShorbagy (6), Tarek Momen (8) and Fares Dessouky (9) complete a six-strong Egyptian presence within the Top 10, with England’s James Willstrop (7) and New Zealand’s Paul Coll (10) occupying the remaining positions in an unchanged line up.
Outside the Top 10, former World No.1 Ramy Ashour – who turned 30 yesterday – has moved up three places to No.11 following his victory at the 2017 J.P. Morgan China Open in early September, moving ahead of Germany’s Simon Rösner, fellow Egyptian Mohamed Abouelghar and England’s Daryl Selby – who sits one place above Elias.

Gohar Returns To Top Five In PSA Women’s World Rankings

Egyptian Nouran Gohar, who yesterday celebrated her 20th birthday, has moved up two places in the latest PSA Women’s World Rankings to occupy the World No.5 spot.
The hard-hitting player from Cairo, who last month fell out of the top five for the first time in over a year, enjoyed a purple patch of form throughout September, reaching the final of the J.P. Morgan China Open – where she lost to compatriot Nour El Sherbini, who remains at World No.1 for an 18th consecutive month – before lifting her first title of the season at the Macau Open.
She is now within 200 points of England’s former World No.1 Laura Massaro, who occupies the World No.4 berth, while Frenchwoman Camille Serme has moved up one place to a career-high equalling World No.2 – overtaking Raneem El Welily who falls back to No.3, her lowest ranking in six months.
Serme, who was the only player to win two PSA World Series titles during the 2016/17 campaign, is now within 150 points of El Sherbini ahead of the first World Series title of the 2017/18 season – the U.S. Open – which gets underway next week.
Elsewhere inside the top ten England’s 27-year-old Sarah-Jane Perry has narrowed the gap on eight-time World Champion Nicol David to less that 20 points courtesy of her victory at the 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open, where she recovered from match ball down to defeat David in the final.
American Amanda Sobhy, the Harvard-graduate who has been out injured for over six months, falls out of the Top 10 for the first time two years to be replaced by New Zealand’s Joelle King, while her Team USA compatriot Olivia Blatchford moves up one position to No.16.

 

FULL WORLD RANKINGS

San Francisco Finals

Posted: 01 Oct 2017 03:29 AM PDT

ElShorbagy and Perry lift 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open Titles

Egypt’s World No.3 Mohamed ElShorbagy and England’s World No.6 Sarah-Jane Perry are the 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open champions after they claimed respective wins over World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad and legendary Malaysian Nicol David on finals day in San Francisco.
ElShorbagy had a difficult 2016/17 season by his own high standards – losing his World No.1 ranking and struggling for form throughout – but has begun the new campaign in style, backing up a thrilling five-game victory over last year’s runner-up James Willstrop with a sublime display against Gawad, who struggled to back up after a brutal 90-minute semi-final with Peru’s Diego Elias.
ElShorbagy hadn’t beaten Gawad in over a year, losing to his compatriot twice in the meantime, but he outclassed the World No.2 this time around, reading his shots well and playing with stunning attacking force to record an 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 triumph – lifting his 26th Tour title and taking the lion’s share of the $100k prize fund.
“I’m really happy, it’s only my first tournament of the season and I think it’s the first time in my life that I have won the first tournament,” said ElShorbagy.
“When I was World No.1 for 28 months, all of the players studied me every single day but, coming into this season, I’m studying everyone. I’m coming in really hungry and I really want to do well this season.
“I’ve put in a lot of work this summer and there is nothing in my mind apart from getting back to World No.1 this season. I’m going to do everything I can to get back to where I feel I should be.”
In the women’s $50k event, 2015 runner-up Perry – who dispatched top seed and defending champion Laura Massaro in the semi-finals – had won the last three meetings between her and David but was up against it as her opponent, an eight-time World Champion, surged into a two-game lead courtesy of some precise attacking at the front of the court.
27-year-old Perry fought back in the third to halve the deficit before squandering two game balls in the fourth to hand David a championship ball.
But a fortuitous nick off a Perry cross court handed the initiative back to the player from England, and she converted her next game ball before holding her nerve in the decider to seal an 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-7 victory that sees her pick up the ninth Tour title of her career and her first since 2015.
“I was just thinking of my nan [at championship ball down], it’s one I’ve got to dedicate to her because she passed away a couple of weeks ago and on that championship ball I told myself that I had to be brave and do it for nan and it worked,” said an emotional Perry.
“If a dead nick isn’t a sign that she’s looking down on me, then I don’t know what is. I had nothing in the tank but I just kept getting another ball back against someone who was playing amazing.
“This is my biggest title and I reached my first World Series final last season, so I’m looking to set my marker down early. Winning this one has kickstarted my season and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come for the rest of the year.”

Men’s Final:
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)  11-9, 11-6, 11-3 (45m)

Women’s Final: 
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [2] Nicol David (MAS)  8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-7 (74m)