WORLD SQUASH NEWS Carol Owens Maintains World No1 Lead New Zealand's Carol Owens maintains her lead at the top of the new April Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today (01 April) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA), after retaining the Texas Open title on Sunday. Owens, the 31-year-old former Australian now based in Auckland, claimed her third title of the year when she beat USA's Natalie Pohrer in the final in Dallas, USA. Pohrer strengthens her grip on the No2 position in the new list. England's Linda Charman and Tania Bailey maintain their positions at three and four, respectively, while Australia's Rachael Grinham stays at No5. Natalie Grinham, who upset the Grinham family hierarchy when she beat older sister Rachael for the first time in her life in last week's Texas Open quarter-finals, rises to a career-high No8 in the new rankings. The 25-year-old from Toowoomba in Queensland, now based in the Netherlands, is enjoying the best form of her career since winning her first two WISPA World Tour titles in January. England's Jenny Tranfield is also celebrating her highest world ranking with a top ten debut at No10. The sport's only Doctor, after gaining her PhD in Sports Psychology last year, Tranfield reached the quarter-finals in February's Tournament of Champions in New York after beating the Netherlands' world No6 Vanessa Atkinson. Another Englishwoman has also recorded a best-ever ranking: Manchester's Vicky Botwright moves up to 14 in the new list after celebrating her first WISPA World Tour final appearances in two events in the USA in January. Isabelle Stoehr consolidates her status as France's most successful woman player by moving up one place to 18, while Ireland's Madeline Perry makes her top twenty debut at 20. Meanwhile Rebecca Chiu leaps five places to a career-high No19 to become Hong Kong's highest-ranked player of all-time. 1 [1] Carol Owens NZL 2 [2] Natalie Pohrer USA 3 [3] Linda Charman ENG 4 [4] Tania Bailey ENG 5 [5] Rachael Grinham AUS 6 [7] Vanessa Atkinson NED 7 [6] Cassie Jackman ENG 8 [9] Natalie Grinham AUS 9 [8] Rebecca Macree ENG 10 [11] Jenny Tranfield ENG 11 [10] Fiona Geaves ENG 12 [12] Stephanie Brind ENG 13 [13] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 14 [15] Vicky Botwright ENG 15 [14] Pamela Nimmo SCO 16 [16] Suzanne Horner ENG 17 [17] Shelley Kitchen NZL 18 [19] Isabelle Stoehr FRA 19 [24] Rebecca Chiu HKG 20 [21] Madeline Perry IRL