Egypt's Karim Darwish moves into his eighth month as world number one, according to the August Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published today by the Professional Squash Association.

The 27-year-old from Cairo maintains his lead ahead of Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, who holds onto his career-best position of number two.

In an unchanged top eight, Egypt's 21-year-old World Open champion Ramy Ashour remains in third place - with compatriot Amr Shabana, the three-time world champion, at No4.

But Londoner Adrian Grant is one of two Englishmen celebrating career-best rankings in the new list: The 28-year-old left-hander, who boasts more PSA World Tour titles than any other current compatriots on the Tour, rises to No9 - his first ever single-figure ranking.

Grant won his 16th Tour title at the Indian Challenger No2 in Kolkata in March - but was forced to withdraw from this month's CIMB Malaysian Open due to a calf injury.

Alister Walker, the Botswana-born 26-year-old who made his England senior international debut in April, jumps two places to a career-high world No14. Walker claimed his third Tour title at the Midtown Sanctuaire Open in Montreal in February.

Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema is also celebrating a career-best ranking after a two-place jump. The 26-year-old from The Hague reached his 21st PSA Tour final at the Internationaux de la Reunion in France in June - a week after claiming his eighth title at the Toulouse Open.

Two players also mark their return to the world top 20: Australian Cameron Pilley, out of the elite group for four months, secured an unexpected berth in last month's final of the Australian Open - and leaps three places to 19.

Olli Tuominen, the highest-ranked Finn throughout this decade, slips back into the top 20 at No20 after a three-month absence. The 30-year-old from Helsinki delighted local fans in February when he upset favourite Stewart Boswell to win the Savcor Finnish Open for the second year in a row.

August top 20 (inc. points average):

1 [1] Karim Darwish EGY 1079
2 [2] Gregory Gaultier FRA 873
3 [3] Ramy Ashour EGY 741
4 [4] Amr Shabana EGY 735
5 [5] Nick Matthew ENG 667
6 [6] David Palmer AUS 576
7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 487
8 [8] Thierry Lincou FRA 473
9 [10] Adrian Grant ENG 417
10 [9] Wael El Hindi EGY 396
11 [11] Borja Golan ESP 385
12 [12] James Willstrop ENG 374
13 [15] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 283
14 [16] Alister Walker ENG 274
15 [20] Stewart Boswell AUS 258
16 [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 256
17 [17] Mohamed El Shorbagy EGY 254
18 [19] Aamir Atlas Khan PAK 251
19 [22] Cameron Pilley AUS 240
20 [21] Olli Tuominen FIN 230