WORLD SQUASH NEWS Carol Owens Takes Over As World No1 New Zealand's Carol Owens celebrates her victory in last week's Arader & O'Rourke Tournament of Champions in New York by taking over the No1 position in the new March Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today (03 March) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA). Owens, the 31-year-old former Australian now based in Auckland, had to fight back from 2-0 down to overcome USA's Natalie Pohrer in the final at Grand Central Station to claim unequivocally the world No1 title vacated by Australia's Sarah Fitz-Gerald on the announcement last month of her Tour retirement. Owens has enjoyed an illustrious international career in which she has competed in more than 120 WISPA events since 1990. Winner of the World Open title in November 2000, Owens claimed her 22nd WISPA title last week in her 44th final. Natalie Pohrer moves up to a career-high No2 in the new list, ahead of former English compatriots Linda Charman, at No3, and Tania Bailey, who rises three places to a best-ever No4. England's Cassie Jackman, a semi-finalist in the Tournament of Champions in her first major event since undergoing back surgery last September, also moves up the list to No6 - while another Englishwoman Rebecca Macree registers a career-high No8 ranking in the March list, as does Australia's Natalie Grinham at No9. England's Jenny Tranfield, the Sports Psychology PhD who was the only unseeded player to reach the Tournament of Champions' quarter-finals, is rewarded with a career-high world No11 ranking - seven positions higher than the Netherlands' Annelize Naude who boasts a best-ever No18 position. France will be represented in the world top twenty for the first time following the three-place leap by 23-year-old Isabelle Stoehr to a career-high No19 position. 1 [2] Carol Owens NZL 2 [3] Natalie Pohrer USA 3 [4] Linda Charman ENG 4 [7] Tania Bailey ENG 5 [5] Rachael Grinham AUS 6 [8] Cassie Jackman ENG 7 [6] Vanessa Atkinson NED 8 [9] Rebecca Macree ENG 9 [10] Natalie Grinham AUS 10 [11] Fiona Geaves ENG 11 [13] Jenny Tranfield ENG 12 [12] Stephanie Brind ENG 13 [14] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 14 [16] Pamela Nimmo SCO 15 [17] Vicky Botwright ENG 16 [15] Suzanne Horner ENG 17 [18] Shelley Kitchen NZL 18 [20] Annelize Naude NED 19 [22] Isabelle Stoehr FRA 20 [19] Ellen Petersen DEN