Vanessa Atkinson Becomes World Number One

After 11 months in second place behind Australia's Rachael Grinham, Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson has finally overtaken her long-time rival to become world number one for the first time in her career in the new December Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

Whilst the 29-year-old from The Hague becomes the eleventh woman to head the world list since the inaugural WISPA rankings in 1983, Atkinson is the first ever world number one from the Netherlands.

Atkinson, born in England and raised in the Netherlands, has enjoyed a sensational two years on the WISPA World Tour since winning the Kuala Lumpur Open in February last year. The eight-times Dutch national champion went on to pick up eight Tour titles in 2004 - being successful in all the finals she reached and rounding off the year by clinching the World Open title in Malaysia.

In addition to adding the European Individual title to her collection this year, Atkinson has also made it through to six further WISPA finals - claiming four more trophies, including last week in Doha the richest of them all, the Qatar Classic.

If Atkinson retains her World Open crown in Hong Kong this week, she will join squash greats Susan Devoy, Michelle Martin and Sarah Fitz-Gerald as the only players who have successfully defended the sport's most prized title.

Rachael Grinham slips to No2 in the new list, while Malaysia's Nicol David remains at three, and Rachael's younger sister Natalie Grinham stays at four.

A notable breakthrough in women's squash is achieved by Vicky Botwright, who rises to a career-high No5 to become England's highest-ranked player for the first time. The 28-year-old from Manchester, who only netted her first WISPA title last year, has reached four Tour finals in 2005 - most notably upsetting the first and third seeds in last week's Qatar Classic to celebrate her maiden appearance in a WISPA Grand Prix final.

Two further English players boast best-ever rankings in December: Londoner Alison Waters - a quarter-finalist in the British Open as a qualifier, and a surprise semi-finalist in this month's Monte Carlo Classic in Monaco - rises to No12, while Lancashire's Laura-Jane Lengthorn, also a qualifier who reached the last eight of the British Open, leaps two places to 16.

With three WISPA Tour titles to her name since August, including the Atlanta Masters in the USA this month, Egypt's Engy Kheirallah makes her top twenty debut at 20.

1 [2] Vanessa Atkinson NED
2 [1] Rachael Grinham AUS
3 [3] Nicol David MAS
4 [4] Natalie Grinham AUS
5 [7] Vicky Botwright ENG
6 [6] Linda Elriani ENG
7 [5] Natalie Grainger USA
8 [9] Jenny Duncalf ENG
9 [8] Tania Bailey ENG
10 [10] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
11 [11] Madeline Perry IRL
12 [13] Alison Waters ENG
13 [12] Shelley Kitchen NZL
14 [14] Annelize Naude NED
15 [15] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
16 [18] Laura-Jane Lengthorn ENG
17 [17] Rebecca Chiu HKG
18 [16] Fiona Geaves ENG
19 [19] Pamela Nimmo SCO
20 [24] Engy Kheirallah EGY