Grinhams Rise In New World Rankings

While Australia's Rachael Grinham returns to the top three in the new May Women's World Squash Rankings published by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA), her younger sister Natalie Grinham also bounces back into the top 20 after the birth of her first child last year.

Malaysian Nicol David extends her lead at the top of the list after winning the Cayman Islands Open crown for the third successive year last month - and boosting her career WISPA Tour haul to 52 titles.

But though England's Jenny Duncalf, runner-up in Grand Cayman, holds onto second place, Rachael Grinham leapfrogs Ireland's Madeline Perry to take over the third spot - and celebrate her 100th consecutive month in the world's top five!

Winner of the World Junior title in 1993, 34-year-old Grinham senior made her first appearance in the WISPA rankings in July 1994 and went on to win her first Tour title in 1998. The Amsterdam-based Queenslander topped the world rankings for 16 unbroken months from August 2004 - and won her 31st Tour title in the USA last month at the Texas Open.

Natalie Grinham was out of action for almost a year following the birth of son Kieran in May last year - but the 33-year-old former world No2 from the Netherlands bounced back to celebrate a triumphant month in April, not only winning the Atwater Cup in Canada but also reaching the quarter-finals of both the Cayman Islands Open and Texas Open unseeded.

Grinham junior leaps 15 places to No17 in the May rankings.

Hong Kong's Annie Au also has cause for celebration after reaching a career-high No10. The 22-year-old left-hander delighted her national fans last month by winning the Buler Challenge Cup on home soil - a triumph which marked her tenth Tour title.

In a good month for left-handers, Australian Donna Urquhart continues her rapid rise by jumping three places to a best-ever No13 ranking. After despatching two top-five ranked opponents to reach the Cayman Islands Open semi-finals as a qualifier, the 24-year-old from New South Wales went on to claim a final berth in the Buler Challenge - then picked up her sixth WISPA Tour title at the Indian Challenger in Chennai.

May top 20 (inc. points average):

1	[1]	Nicol David	MAS	3348
2	[2]	Jenny Duncalf	ENG	1654
3	[4]	Rachael Grinham	AUS	1251
4	[3]	Madeline Perry	IRL	1147
5	[5]	Alison Waters	ENG	1132
6	[6]	Kasey Brown	AUS	1021
7	[7]	Laura Massaro	ENG	978
8	[8]	Omneya Abdel Kawy	EGY	956
9	[9]	Camille Serme	FRA	788
10	[11]	Annie Au	HKG	771
11	[10]	Vanessa Atkinson	NED	757
12	[12]	Raneem El Weleily	EGY	669
13	[16]	Donna Urquhart	AUS	594
14	[14]	Joelle King	NZL	579
15	[13]	Low Wee Wern	MAS	564
16	[15]	Jaclyn Hawkes	NZL	536
17	[32]	Natalie Grinham	NED	514
18	[20]	Nour El Tayeb	EGY	486
19	[18]	Sarah Kippax	ENG	450
20	[17]	Amanda Sobhy	USA	433

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