Nicol David Overtakes Sarah Fitz-Gerald In World Ranking Records

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