Whilst Ramy Ashour holds his lead at the top of the September Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, it is Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez who is the focus of attention in the new list published today by the Professional Squash Association after becoming the highest-ranked South American of all-time.
"I am very happy to reach the top 16 and became the best Latin American and South American player in history to achieve this position," said Rodriguez on hearing the news of his three-place leap to No16 - a career-best world ranking which finally sees the Colombian move ahead of the 17th place achieved by Argentina's Federico Usandizaga two decades ago.
"It all comes together when you do the right things - I knew this was going to happen and I was waiting for the moment," continued the 27-year-old from Bogota who reached the semi-finals of the Colombian Open last month unseeded. "But there is still more work to do to climb the path to the top 10, the top five and then number one."
Rodriguez notched up his 30th final appearance on the PSA World Tour in May at the Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta in Guatemala - where he won his 22nd title and paid tribute to his coach David Palmer, the US-based former world champion from Australia.
"It's not easy for me because I don't always have David to coach me and players to play with - but I am very grateful to him due to the fact that I am not full time in Orlando. However, we keep in touch and he reminds me important things to do on and off court.
"I also want to thanked Sardar Ali Khan - I used to train with him and learnt a lot from him; My dad who involved me in this sport 23 years ago has been the principal key for my entire career; my mom is always besides me, no matter what. And also thanks to Tecnifibre, Salming, Coldeportes, IDRD and my physical trainer Ryan McKenzie in Orlando."
PSA CEO Alex Gough added: "It is fantastic to have a player from South America reaching this high in the world rankings. Rodriguez is a great talent and crowds really enjoy watching him play at major events. It shows the growing diversity of the sport and I am sure he will be aiming at breaking into the top ten if he can."
In an unchanged top 10, Frenchman Gregory Gaultier holds onto second place, followed by Englishmen James Willstrop and Nick Matthew at No3 and No4, respectively.
Egyptians occupy four further places behind Ashour in the world top ten: Karim Darwish at 5; Mohamed Elshorbagyin sixth place; Amr Shabana at No8; and Tarek Momen in 10th place.
England's Daryl Selby moves up to 13 in the September list, while India's Saurav Ghosal also rises one place, to No19.
September 2013 top 20 (inc. points average):
1 [1] Ramy Ashour EGY 1,638
2 [2] Gregory Gaultier FRA 1,109
3 [3] James Willstrop ENG 982
4 [4] Nick Matthew ENG 941
5 [5] Karim Darwish EGY 705
6 [6] Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY 674
7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 567
8 [8] Amr Shabana EGY 514
9 [9] Borja Golan ESP 471
10 [10] Tarek Momen EGY 459
11 [11] Omar Mosaad EGY 390
12 [12] Simon Rosner GER 347
13 [14] Daryl Selby ENG 336
14 [13] Cameron Pilley AUS 329
15 [15] Alister Walker BOT 310
16 [19] Miguel Angel Rodriguez COL 278 17
[16] Stephen Coppinger RSA 268 18
[18] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 265 19
[20] Saurav Ghosal IND 259 20
[23] Karim Abdel Gawad EGY 244