While Natalie Grainger's shock victory over world champion Nicol David in last month's KL Open final does nothing to dislodge the Malaysian from the top of the new April Women's World Squash Rankings, the US star leaps to a five-year high No2 ranking in the list published today (Wednesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

The upset ended a sensational 17-month 56-match unbeaten Tour run by Nicol David – but the 25-year-old from Penang, who had not previously tasted defeat since the World Open in Madrid in October 2007, extends her undisturbed reign as world number one to 33 months.

But Grainger is enjoying a rejuvenation of her illustrious squash career.  The KL Open triumph marked the 31-year-old's third successive WISPA World Tour title of the year, and the 22nd of her career – and she achieved it in her 40th final. 

The WISPA President returned to her homeland to pick up her third US National title in a row, then moved into lobbying mode by joining fellow Olympic Ambassadors to promote her sport's bid for inclusion in the 2016 Games at the Sportaccord meeting in Denver.

Natalie Grinham, the former world No2 from the Netherlands, slips to four in the list – below her Australian sister Rachael Grinham for the first time since last September.

While the English trio of Jenny Duncalf, Alison Waters and Laura Lengthorn-Massaro retain fifth, sixth and seventh places, respectively, their England team-mate Tania Bailey – still recovering from knee surgery last year - jumps three places to 15 after a long-awaited Tour win at the NSC Series No5 in March in Kuala Lumpur.


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

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