Nicol David moves into her 17th successive month at the top of the Women's World Squash Rankings, according to the December list published today (Tuesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) - thus establishing the longest unbroken run as world number one since Sarah Fitz-Gerald's two-year reign ended in November 1998.

The 24-year-old Malaysian completes her first full calendar year as No1 after the best year of her career, in which she won eight WISPA World Tour titles from ten final appearances.

Australia's Grinham sisters occupy the next two positions - Netherlands-based Natalie Grinham at two, and the 2007 British Open and World Open champion Rachael Grinham, based in Cairo, in third place.

Natalie Grainger, winner of the Carol Weymuller US Open title at the weekend, consolidates her position at No4.  Since becoming a US citizen at the beginning of this year, the 30-year-old from Washington DC has 'rewarded' her new home country by becoming not only the US National and US Open champion - but also the Pan American Games gold medallist. 

Grainger's Carol Weymuller success in New York brought her tally of WISPA World Tour titles on home soil this year to five!

English players are converging on the top position - with Manchester's Vicky Botwright rising one place to No6, behind Lincolnshire's Tania Bailey at No5 - and Yorkshire's Jenny Duncalf leaping three places to No7 after reaching the quarter-finals of last month's Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open and the final of the Carol Weymuller US Open.

New Zealand's Jaclyn Hawkes moves to a career-high world No18 in the new list.    The 25-year-old from Auckland was a surprise finalist in both the Dayton Open and Irish Open earlier this year.

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

For the complete WISPA ranking list, see www.wispa.net