Egypt's Ali Farag remains unmoved at the top of the men's world rankings ©PSA

The top 20 of the men’s and women’s Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings for March remain unchanged for the second straight month as players await the resumption of the PSA World Tour season.

Egyptian duo Nour El Sherbini and Ali Farag continue to hold top spot in the respective men’s and women’s standings.

But the rankings could receive a shake-up when the Black Ball Squash Open launches the second half of the coronavirus-hit season.

The PSA platinum event is scheduled to take place in Cairo in Egypt from Friday (March 12) to March 25.

Valuable rankings points will be on offer when Cairo stages this month's CIB Black Ball Squash Open ©PSA
Valuable rankings points will be on offer when Cairo stages this month's CIB Black Ball Squash Open ©PSA

Egyptian trio Mohamed ElShorbagy, Tarek Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad and New Zealand’s Paul Coll will be hoping to make a case for the number one spot which has been held by Farag for five months in succession.

El Sherbini is also celebrating a fifth straight month at the summit but is set to come under pressure from the likes of counterparts Nouran Gohar and 

Hania El Hammamy, France’s Camille Serme and England’s Sarah-Jane Perry.

The Black Ball Squash Open will be the first World Tour event of 2021 having concluded the 2020 calendar in December.

The biggest mover in the men’s rankings this month saw 41-year-old Peter Vaughan who rose 228 places to a career-high ranking of 460 following his quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open.

Nour El Sherbini remains at the top of the women's rankings for the fifth straight month ©PSA
Nour El Sherbini remains at the top of the women's rankings for the fifth straight month ©PSA

New Zealand’s former world number 89 Lance Beddoes climbed 185 spots to 503 after reaching the Henderson Rochelle Hobbs Open semi-finals in his first PSA Tour appearance since 2018.

In the women’s rankings, Remashree Muniandy moved up 57 places to 300 after making her PSA Tour debut at the Australian Open, where she went out in the last 16.

Fifteen-year-old French player Rose Lucas Marcuzzo has also reached the top 300, climbing 57 spots, after making the last 16 of the Le Havre PSA Challenger.