While Australia's Rachael Grinham
returns to the top three in the new May Women's World Squash Rankings
published by the Women's International Squash Players' Association
(WISPA), her younger sister Natalie Grinham also bounces back into the
top 20 after the birth of her first child last year.
Malaysian Nicol David extends her
lead at the top of the list after winning the Cayman Islands Open crown
for the third successive year last month - and boosting her career
WISPA Tour haul to 52 titles.
But though England's Jenny Duncalf,
runner-up in Grand Cayman, holds onto second place, Rachael Grinham
leapfrogs Ireland's Madeline Perry to take over the third spot - and
celebrate her 100th consecutive month in the world's top five!
Winner of the World Junior title in
1993, 34-year-old Grinham senior made her first appearance in the WISPA
rankings in July 1994 and went on to win her first Tour title in 1998.
The Amsterdam-based Queenslander topped the world rankings for 16
unbroken months from August 2004 - and won her 31st Tour title in the
USA last month at the Texas Open.
Natalie Grinham was out of action
for almost a year following the birth of son Kieran in May last year -
but the 33-year-old former world No2 from the Netherlands bounced back
to celebrate a triumphant month in April, not only winning the Atwater
Cup in Canada but also reaching the quarter-finals of both the Cayman
Islands Open and Texas Open unseeded.
Grinham junior leaps 15 places to No17 in the May rankings.
Hong Kong's Annie Au also has cause
for celebration after reaching a career-high No10. The 22-year-old
left-hander delighted her national fans last month by winning the Buler
Challenge Cup on home soil - a triumph which marked her tenth Tour
title.
In a good month for left-handers,
Australian Donna Urquhart continues her rapid rise by jumping three
places to a best-ever No13 ranking. After despatching two top-five
ranked opponents to reach the Cayman Islands Open semi-finals as a
qualifier, the 24-year-old from New South Wales went on to claim a
final berth in the Buler Challenge - then picked up her sixth WISPA
Tour title at the Indian Challenger in Chennai.
May Top 20 (includes points average):
1 [1] Nicol David MAS 3348 2 [2] Jenny Duncalf ENG 1654 3 [4] Rachael Grinham AUS 1251 4 [3] Madeline Perry IRL 1147 5 [5] Alison Waters ENG 1132 6 [6] Kasey Brown AUS 1021 7 [7] Laura Massaro ENG 978 8 [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 956 9 [9] Camille Serme FRA 788 10 [11] Annie Au HKG 771 11 [10] Vanessa Atkinson NED 757 12 [12] Raneem El Weleily EGY 669 13 [16] Donna Urquhart AUS 594 14 [14] Joelle King NZL 579 15 [13] Low Wee Wern MAS 564 16 [15] Jaclyn Hawkes NZL 536 17 [32] Natalie Grinham NED 514 18 [20] Nour El Tayeb EGY 486 19 [18] Sarah Kippax ENG 450 20 [17] Amanda Sobhy USA 433