30 Months Notched Up for Nicol David

Nicol David Strengthens Grip On World Number One Ranking

With an unprecedented lead over her nearest rival, Nicol David tops the January 2009 Women's World Squash Rankings, published today (Wednesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) – thus moving into her 30th successive month as the world’s number one player.

The 25-year-old Malaysian celebrated the best year of her career in 2008, not only winning 10 WISPA Tour titles but also extending her unbeaten Tour record to 53 matches since October 2007. Off-court, David became the youngest Malaysian to be conferred a Datukship - the equivalent of a British knighthood.

David heads an unchanged top four, with Natalie Grinham (Netherlands) at two; her older sister Rachael Grinham (Australia) in third place; and Natalie Grainger, of the USA, at number four.

The honour of being England’s highest-placed player has changed for the third time in three months as Jenny Duncalf leap-frogs Londoner Alison Waters to reclaim fifth place.

Lower down the list, their compatriot Tania Bailey – the former England number one who was out of action for much of 2008 following knee surgery - returns to the top 20 at 18 after her first and only month outside the elite group this decade.

Samantha Teran is the only player in the top twenty to celebrate a career-best position in the new list: The 27-year-old Mexican, who boasts five WISPA Tour title successes in 2008, rises a single place to 16.

1 [1] Nicol David MAS
2 [2] Natalie Grinham NED
3 [3] Rachael Grinham AUS
4 [4] Natalie Grainger USA
5 [6] Jenny Duncalf ENG
6 [5] Alison Waters ENG
7 [7] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
8 [8] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro ENG
9 [9] Madeline Perry IRL
10 [10] Shelley Kitchen NZL
11 [11] Vanessa Atkinson NED
12 [12] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
13 [13] Kasey Brown AUS
14 [14] Vicky Botwright ENG
15 [15] Rebecca Chiu HKG
16 [17] Samantha Teran MEX
17 [16] Jaclyn Hawkes NZL
18 [21] Tania Bailey ENG
19 [18] Lauren Briggs ENG
20 [19] Raneem El Weleily EGY