Nicol David Extends World Number One Lead
The Malaysian, who celebrated her 23rd birthday last month, followed her victories in the Qatar Airways Challenge and CIMB Malaysian Open in July by securing her third WISPA World Tour title in a row at the Hotel Equatorial Penang Open in her home town.
David maintains her lead ahead of Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands at two, and the Australian sisters Rachael Grinham and Natalie Grinham who remain at three and four, respectively.
Three English names - Vicky Botwright, Jenny Duncalf and Tania Bailey - follow in fifth, sixth and seventh positions in the first list since 1990 which does not include compatriot Linda Elriani, the former world No3 who has retired to take up a coaching role in the USA.
England's Laura-Jane Lengthorn celebrates a career-high ranking in the new list – at No11. Rebecca Chiu also boasts a career-best position: Hong Kong's Asian Games champion, who won the Crocodile Challenge Cup on home soil in July, moves up to 14.
Another English player also has cause to celebrate: Dominique Lloyd-Walter, 25, from Harrow, makes her debut in the top twenty at 20.
1 [1] Nicol David MAS
2 [2] Vanessa Atkinson NED
3 [3] Rachael Grinham AUS
4 [4] Natalie Grinham AUS
5 [5] Vicky Botwright ENG
6 [6] Jenny Duncalf ENG
7 [7] Tania Bailey ENG
8 [8] Madeline Perry IRL
9 [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
10 [10] Alison Waters ENG
11 [12] Laura-Jane Lengthorn ENG
12 [13] Shelley Kitchen NZL
13 [15] Natalie Grainger USA
14 [17] Rebecca Chiu HKG
15 [14] Engy Kheirallah EGY
16 [18] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
17 [16] Annelize Naude NED
18 [19] Fiona Geaves ENG
19 [20] Pamela Nimmo SCO
20 [21] Dominique Lloyd-Walter ENG
For the complete WISPA ranking list, see www.wispa.net