While England's new World Champion Laura Massaro closes the
gap behind predecessor Nicol David in the latest April
Women's World Squash Rankings, it is the Malaysian who continues
to hold pole position in the list published today by the Women's
Squash Association (WSA).
David, the 30-year-old from Penang who missed out on a record eighth
title in front of a huge home crowd in last month's Penang CIMB
Women's World Championship, extends to 93 months her unbroken
reign as world No1 since August 2006.
But Massaro, who wrested the title from the Penangite to become
England's first world champion for 15 years, has edged closer to
David to begin a second year as world number two.
Egypt's Raneem El Welily also maintains her position as the
world No3 - while Joelle King jumps to a career-high No4 to
become the highest-ranked New Zealander for more than ten years.
The 25-year-old from Cambridge won the seventh Tour title of her
career in January at the Greenwich Open - and last month
reached the world championship quarter-finals for the first time.
But it is Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini who celebrates
the most astonishing rise in the April rankings. At 27 in last
month's rankings, the 18-year-old from Alexandria appeared in the
Penang World Championship unseeded - then proceeded to dismiss a
succession of higher-ranked players including fifth seed Joelle
King and the No4 seed Alison Waters, before claiming the
biggest scalp of all in Nicol David to become the youngest
finalist in the 35-year history of the event.
The run sees El Sherbini leap 14 places to No13.
US
star Amanda Sobhy also records a best-ever ranking. The
20-year-old Pan American champion from New York, a full-time student
at Harvard University, picked up her 11th WSA Tour title at the
Granite Club Open in Canada last month and rises two places to
No15.
April top 20
(inc. points average):
|
Rank |
+/- |
Player |
Pts |
Ctry |
1 |
- |
Nicol David |
3,346 |
MAS |
2 |
[2] |
Laura Massaro |
2,555 |
ENG |
3 |
[3] |
Raneem El Welily |
1,754 |
EGY |
4 |
[5] |
Joelle King |
1,176 |
NZL |
5 |
[4] |
Alison Waters |
1,036 |
ENG |
6 |
[6] |
Camille Serme |
1,031 |
FRA |
7 |
[7] |
Low Wee Wern |
901 |
MAS |
8 |
[8] |
Madeline Perry |
786 |
IRL |
9 |
[9] |
Annie Au |
763 |
HKG |
10 |
[10] |
Jenny Duncalf |
722 |
ENG |
11 |
[13] |
Omneya Abdel Kawy |
634 |
EGY |
12 |
[11] |
Dipika Pallikal |
631 |
IND |
13 |
[27] |
Nour El Sherbini |
627 |
EGY |
14 |
[14] |
Kasey Brown |
571 |
AUS |
15 |
[17] |
Amanda Sobhy |
522 |
USA |
16 |
[15] |
Rachael Grinham |
516 |
AUS |
17 |
[12] |
Natalie Grinham |
482 |
NED |
18 |
[16] |
Sarah-Jane Perry |
444 |
ENG |
19 |
[20] |
Nicolette
Fernandes |
401 |
GUY |
20 |
[18] |
Nour El Tayeb |
395 |
EGY |
|
|