Egyptian World No.2 Raneem El Welily has overtaken compatriot Nour El Tayeb to top the PSA Women’s World Series Standings courtesy of a runner-up finish at last week’s Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open.
All eight World Series tournaments throughout the 2017/18 season offer up points for the PSA World Series Standings, where the top eight players will qualify for a place at the season-ending PSA World Series Finals in June.
And with two women’s World Series events played so far, it is 28-year-old El Welily who leads the way after she followed up a runner-up spot at last month’s U.S. Open by reaching the same stage at the Hong Kong Open last Sunday (November 19) to sit on 130 points, five ahead of Hong Kong Open winner Nour El Sherbini, who lifted her first World Series title in 20 months.
El Tayeb drops down to third after a second round defeat to El Welily to make it an Egyptian top three, with 2016/17 PSA World Series Finals winner Laura Massaro following in fourth.
Next comes New Zealand’s Joelle King and France’s Camille Serme – the latter of whom topped last season’s Women’s World Series Standings. World No.5 Nouran Gohar and World No.10 Alison Waters take up the last two spots in the top eight, which is currently devoid of eight-time World Champion Nicol David, who sits in 10th.
After taking a second successive PSA World Series title, World No.3 Mohamed ElShorbagy has strengthened his lead on the Men’s World Series Standings to sit on 265 points.
The Bristol-based Egyptian followed up his Qatar Classic win earlier on in the month with a third Hong Kong Open title to move 75 points clear of U.S. Open champion Ali Farag, who he beat in the final in Hong Kong.
Egypt’s Tarek Momen and ElShorbagy’s younger brother, Marwan, round out an all-Egyptian top four, with Germany’s Simon Rösner, World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad, former World No.3 Omar Mosaad and World No.1 Gregory Gaultier the other players residing in the top eight.
Last season’s Men’s World Series Finals runner-up James Willstrop sits in 22nd after three men’s World Series events played – 35 points outside the top eight – while three-time World Champion Ramy Ashour is as low as 36th after a shock first round defeat in Hong Kong to tournament wildcard Leo Au.
The next World Series tournament to take place will be the Saudi PSA Women’s Squash Masters between January 7-12 in Riyadh, while both men and women will be in action at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions between January 18-25 inside New York’s stunning Grand Central Terminal.
The 2017/18 PSA World Series Finals will take place in June 2018. For more information on the tournament, please visit the tournament website.
No comments:
Post a Comment