The 23-year-old holds a slender 63-point advantage over Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, while world number five Ashour has closed the gap on fellow Egyptian Amr Shabana to just six points.

Great Britain's Nick Matthew completes the top three, while compatriot Peter Barker has risen to world number six, his highest ranking since reaching the top five in December 2012.

Another Briton, James Willstrop, has fallen to eighth behind Spain's Borja Golan having been ruled out of competitive action until 2015, with Egypt's Tarek Momen and Germany's Simon Rösner rounding out the top ten.

Egypt's Ramy Ashour is a non-mover despite his World Championship victory last month ©Getty Images

After reaching the third round of the 2014 World Championship, Hong Kong's Max Lee has moved up to a career high of world number 16, while Swiss national champion Nicolas Mueller continues his recent resurgence, rising to a personal best world number 17.

Elsewhere in the top 20, Australian Cameron Pilley has climbed two places to world number 18 after reaching the quarter-finals of the World Championships.

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