Title success in his third PSA World Tour event of the year last month has extended Englishman Nick Matthew's lead at the top of the Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, according to the April list published today by the Professional Squash Association.

The world champion from Sheffield successfully defended his ISS Canary Wharf Classic crown on home soil in London to bring up the 20th Tour title of his career.

In an unchanged top ten, Matthew leads Egyptian rival Ramy Ashour, with fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish - winner of last month's CIMB KL Open - in third place, and England's James Willstrop at No4.

The first riser in the new list is David Palmer, the illustrious Australian who is a two-time World Open and four-time British Open champion. The US-based 34-year-old reached two Tour finals in North America in March, winning the Rocky Mountain Open in Calgary to secure his 27th career Tour title. Palmer moves up two places to No11.

Hisham Mohd Ashour, the 28-year-old Egyptian who beat Palmer to lift the National Bank Financial Group Open title in Canada, rises to a career-high No14 - reducing the gap behind his second-placed younger brother Ramy Ashour.

But Pakistan's Nasir Iqbal will be celebrating his 17th birthday today in style after rocketing 133 places to a career-high world No 149 following his sensational title victory this week in the PSF-CDA Pakistan International Circuit No1 in Islamabad where, unseeded, he knocked out the fourth, second and top seeds to win his first Tour title.

April 2011 top 20 (inc. points average):

1

[1]

Nick Matthew

ENG

1,568

2

[2]

Ramy Ashour

EGY

1,296

3

[3]

Karim Darwish

EGY

989

4

[4]

James Willstrop

ENG

897

5

[5]

Amr Shabana

EGY

832

6

[6]

Gregory Gaultier

FRA

782

7

[7]

Peter Barker

ENG

618

8

[8]

Thierry Lincou

FRA

557

9

[9]

Mohamed El Shorbagy

EGY

527

10

[10]

Mohd Azlan Iskandar

MAS

439

11

[13]

David Palmer

AUS

409

12

[11]

Daryl Selby

ENG

384

13

[12]

Laurens Jan Anjema

NED

357

14

[17]

Hisham Mohd Ashour

EGY

352

15

[14]

Cameron Pilley

AUS

350

16

[15]

Wael El Hindi

EGY

348

17

[16]

Omar Mosaad

EGY

347

18

[18]

Adrian Grant

ENG

288

19

[19]

Alister Walker

ENG

280

20

[20]

Stewart Boswell

AUS

269

For full list - see www.psa-squash.com