Nicol David celebrates another glorious milestone in her illustrious Squash career by moving into her 41st month as world number one in the September Women's World Rankings - published today (Tuesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) – thus surpassing her mentor Sarah Fitz-Gerald as the player with the third longest ever reign at the top of the women's rankings.
Now just 26, the Malaysian superstar first topped the WISPA list for three months from January 2006 – then regained pole position in August, holding it unchallenged until today.
With New Zealand legend Susan Devoy boasting a total of 105 months as world number one, and Australian Michelle Martin holding second place in the all-time list with 58 months, Nicol David has now finally got the better of her regular Australian training partner Sarah Fitz-Gerald, who achieved 40 months.
David added to her remarkable WISPA World Tour title tally in August, winning both the CIMB Malaysian Open and CIMB Singapore Masters – dropping only three games over both WISPA Gold events! The Penangite hopes to claim the 40th Tour title of her career at this month's internationalSPORTgroup British Open in Manchester, where she is seeded to win the sport's prestigious title for the fourth time in five years.
In an unchanged world top ten, USA star Natalie Grainger retains her second position, ahead of Dutch number one Natalie Grinham at No3, and her older sister Rachael Grinham, who represents Australia, in fourth place.
The highest mover is Australia's Kasey Brown, who rises to a career-best No11 – while New Zealander Jaclyn Hawkes also celebrates a career-high ranking at No14. Brown, from New South Wales, reached the Malaysian Open quarter-finals unseeded, while Hawkes also achieved an unseeded quarter-final berth in the Cayman Islands Open earlier in the year.
But France's Camille Serme maintains her upward momentum in fine style by establishing a firm footing in the top 20 at a best ever No18. The 20-year-old from Creteil picked up her third Tour title of the year at the Alexandria Sporting Club Open – claiming victory as the eighth seed – and is consistently closing in on her French rival Isabelle Stoehr, the world No12.
September top 20 (inc. points average):
1 [1] Nicol David MAS 3340
2 [2] Natalie Grainger USA 1732
3 [3] Natalie Grinham NED 1614
4 [4] Rachael Grinham AUS 1210
5 [5] Alison Waters ENG 1124
6 [6] Jenny Duncalf ENG 1081
7 [7] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 858
8 [8] Madeline Perry IRL 803
9 [9] Laura Massaro ENG 761
10 [10] Shelley Kitchen NZL 652
11 [12] Kasey Brown AUS 523
12 [11] Isabelle Stoehr FRA 511
13 [13] Vanessa Atkinson NED 491
14 [16] Jaclyn Hawkes NZL 469
15 [14] Annie Au HKG 458
16 [15] Rebecca Chiu HKG 445
17 [17] Samantha Teran MEX 432
18 [20] Camille Serme FRA 364
19 [22] Dominique Lloyd-Walter ENG 350
20 [18] Raneem El Weleily EGY 347
For the complete WISPA ranking list, see www.wispa.net