Grinham Holds On To World No1 Ranking

Australia's Rachael Grinham moves into her ninth successive month as world number one in the April Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

The Cairo-based 28-year-old from Toowoomba was knocked out at the semi-final stage of the Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open earlier this month - but so was her great rival Vanessa Atkinson, the world champion from the Netherlands, who has narrowed the gap behind the Queenslander at No2.

Rachael's younger sister Natalie Grinham remains at three in the new list, just ahead of Malaysia's former world junior champion Nicol David, who claimed her best WISPA World Tour success to date by winning the Kuwait Open after beating Grinham senior in the semi-finals.

The USA's Natalie Grainger is the only player to move upwards in the top ten - replacing England's Linda Elriani at number five. Grainger, 27, from Washington, enjoyed a good run in the Kuwait Open, upsetting both third seed Natalie Grinham and second seed Vanessa Atkinson en-route to reaching the final.

Lower in the list, England's Laura-Jane Lengthorn makes her top twenty debut, at 19. The 21-year-old from Lancashire was a qualifier in the Kuwait Open, but made it through to the last eight to celebrate her first quarter-final appearance in a WISPA Grand Prix event.

1 [1] Rachael Grinham AUS
2 [2] Vanessa Atkinson NED
3 [3] Natalie Grinham AUS
4 [4] Nicol David MAS
5 [6] Natalie Grainger USA
6 [5] Linda Elriani ENG
7 [7] Vicky Botwright ENG
8 [8] Jenny Tranfield ENG
9 [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
10 [10] Jenny Duncalf ENG
11 [11] Shelley Kitchen NZL
12 [12] Madeline Perry IRL
13 [13] Fiona Geaves ENG
14 [15] Tania Bailey ENG
15 [14] Annelize Naude NED
16 [17] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
17 [16] Rebecca Chiu HKG
18 [18] Pamela Nimmo SCO
19 [21] Laura-Jane Lengthorn ENG
20 [20] Alison Waters ENG