A stunning straight games defeat of top seed Ramy Ashour by fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish, followed by a four-game win by Nick Matthew over Frenchman Thierry Lincou in the $150,000 Sky Open, will take Englishman Matthew to the top of the PSA world squash rankings for the first time next month.

It was a dramatic evening of world-class action in the semi-finals of the third, and biggest so far this year, PSA Super Series 2010 event, on an all-glass court at the Sky Resort in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Matthew and Darwish, seeded two and four respectively in the climax of the biggest PSA Super Series event of the year to date, went into the match evenly poised at three wins apiece in their career head-to-head Tour record. Cairo-based Darwish celebrated his third successive appearance in the final by taking the opening game – but Yorkshire man Matthew battled back to take control before winning 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 13-11 in 60 minutes to claim the 14th Tour title of his career – and his second successive Super Series trophy of 2010. “It’s a surreal feeling – it will probably sink in when I get home and in the company of my family, friends and my team,” said the new champion after the presentations.

“I was inspired tonight by what Karim did in Saudi and that drove me to play as though my life was on it. Now I am looking for a break away from the game – a trip to Mexico and then home to work on staying in this position. “World number one sounds great!” added the 29-year-old from Sheffield. Matthew also extends his lead at the top of the PSA Super Series Rankings, with 240 points – ahead of Ramy Ashour (170), fellow Englishman James Willstrop (165), and Karim Darwish (120)