A month after completing her second full year as world number one, Malaysia's Nicol David now marks her 25th successive month at the top of the August Women's World Squash Rankings - thereby overtaking Australia's Sarah Fitz-Gerald to establish the third-longest unbroken run in the history of the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) rankings.

Fitz-Gerald, the record five-time World Open champion from Melbourne, topped the rankings unchallenged for 24 months from November 1996 to October 1998 - and went on to achieve a total of 40 months as world number one before retiring five years ago.

Nicol David now has only New Zealander Susan Devoy and Australia's Michelle Martin in her sights - Martin having notched up 44 successive months as number one from March 1993, following a 58-month run by Devoy from May 1988!

The 24-year-old from Penang continues to set the pace on the WISPA World Tour - in July winning the CIMB Malaysian Open for the fourth year in a row to claim the seventh Tour title in succession, and the 29th WISPA trophy of her career.

"Nicol reaching this milestone is a sign of the champion she is and a hint of the champion yet to come," said Sarah Fitz-Gerald on hearing the Malaysian's latest achievement.

David heads an unchanged top four, with Natalie Grinham at two; her older sister Rachael Grinham at three and USA's Natalie Grainger at four.

However, Jenny Duncalf celebrates a career-high world number five ranking in the new list - becoming the highest-ranked English woman for the first time.  The 25-year-old from Harrogate in Yorkshire reached her maiden Dunlop British Open final in May and went on to claim quarter-final berths in both the Seoul Open in Korea and last month's Malaysian Open in KL.

Mexican Samantha Teran also celebrates a further career-best ranking - moving up a single place to 17 after winning the Harrow Mexican Open last month, her fourth title of the year.

    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]    Tania Bailey    ENG
    7    [7]    Shelley Kitchen    NZL
    8    [8]    Laura Lengthorn-Massaro    ENG
    9    [11]    Vanessa Atkinson    NED
    10    [9]    Omneya Abdel Kawy    EGY
    11    [10]    Alison Waters    ENG
    12    [12]    Vicky Botwright    ENG
    13    [13]    Kasey Brown    AUS
    14    [14]    Rebecca Chiu    HKG
    15    [15]    Madeline Perry    IRL
    16    [16]    Isabelle Stoehr    FRA
    17    [18]    Samantha Teran    MEX
    18    [17]    Engy Kheirallah    EGY
    19    [19]    Jaclyn Hawkes    NZL
    20    [21]    Annelize Naude    NED

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