Carol Owens
World ranking: 1 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 4th June 1971
Age: 32
Lives: Auckland
World Open debut: 1990
Carol Owens has dominated women's squash since last November when she lost 10-8 in the fifth to Natalie Grainger in a dramatic World Open semi-final in Qatar. Unbeaten this year - with six titles to her credit - the Melbourne-born 32-year-old is just two titles away from 50 WISPA World Tour trophies. Her success built upon a great all round game and superb athleticism.
She first competed in the World Open in 1990 where she went out in the 1st round, but during the nineties she followed the debut with five quarter final finishes and a semi final slot in 1997 her high point arrived in Edinburgh in 2000. There she beat Sarah Fitz-Gerald 3/2 in an outstanding semi, then stunningly came back from 2/0 down to beat Leilani Rorani to take the title.
Now a settled New Zealander, after switching allegiance from Australia in 2001, Carol has taken control of the top spot in the WISPA world rankings and is firm favourite to collect her second World Open title in Hong Kong.
Natalie Grainger
World ranking: 2 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 8th July 1977
Age: 26
Lives: St Louis
World Open debut: 1997
Born in Manchester, England, and raised in South Africa, Natalie added another geographical location to her CV when she moved to St Louis in Missouri and subsequently switched allegiance to the USA in 2002.
Four WISPA titles last year from eight final appearances signalled a new-look for the 26-year-old who went on to gain one of the sport's ultimate rewards when she topped the world rankings for one month in June this year.
But it was her dramatic five-game upset over world No1 Carol Owens in last November's World Open semi-finals in Qatar - leading to her first appearance in a world final - that Grainger referred to as "the most memorable moment of my career without a shadow of doubt".
She lost the final to Sarah Fitz-Gerald, but it was an enormously exciting 9/7 in the fourth that left Fitz-Gerald mightily relieved to squeeze through to her fifth and final title.
Will she go one better this time?
Rachael Grinham
World ranking: 3 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 22nd January 1977
Age: 26
Lives: Cairo
World Open debut: 1994
The older of the two Grinham sisters from Toowoomba in Queensland, Rachael has re-energised her career since moving her base to Cairo.
Winner of the World Junior title in 1993, aged 16, Rachael joined WISPA the following year and began her world ranking rise. A Women's Doubles silver medallist in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia, she finally met - and beat - sister Natalie in a WISPA Tour final, also in Malaysia, in 2001.
Against the odds, Rachael won both the Singapore Open and Credit Suisse Privilege Open in Hong Kong last year - beating top and second seeds Natalie Grainger and Fiona Geaves, respectively, in the latter - and rose to a career-high world No3 in June this year.
In 1994, then a junior, Rachael competed in her first World Open in Guernsey, but from then until last year couldn't get beyond the last 16. However, Qatar 2002 only being dramatically stopped 10/8 in the 5th by Natalie Grainger prevented her from reaching the last four ¡V surely a distinct possibility this year.
Cassie Jackman
World ranking: 4 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 22nd December 1972
Age: 30
Lives: Norwich
World Open debut: 1992
The 1991 World Junior champion staked a unique claim in last summer's Commonwealth Games in Manchester when she won a silver medal in the women's doubles and bronze in the singles to become the only woman to win a pair of medals in two successive Games.
Jackman suffered a major setback last September when she was forced to undergo a second career-threatening back operation. Cassie's cautious comeback in January saw her take the Edinburgh Open title without dropping a game, and two months later the Las Vegas Open, beating compatriot Linda Charman in the final.
In February, Cassie romped through to her seventh British Nationals final to claim a record-equalling fifth title.
One of England's leading players for more than a decade, Cassie crowned her international career in January 2000 when she became world No1 for the first time, two months after winning the World Open title in Seattle to complete the junior and senior double.
Since then she has only been able to compete in the 2001 World Open where she lost to Carol Owens, the other past winner in the field, and would dearly like to take her comeback full circle with a win in Hong Kong.
Linda Charman
World ranking: 5 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 21st November 1971
Age: 31
Lives: Eastbourne
World Open debut: 1992
Long-time England international Linda Charman has been a WISPA member since 1990 and is currently the association's Chairman.
After celebrating a career-best world No3 ranking in January 2000, Linda went on to win WISPA titles in the USA and France - and at the beginning of this year enjoyed a confidence-boosting five-game win in the final of the Greenwich Open over top-seeded Natalie Grainger.
After several years featuring early round losses Linda first reached the World Open quarters in 1999 in Seattle where Natalie Grainger beat her. The following year she again reached the quarters, but in 2001 & 2002 she was a World Open semi finalist, last year losing 3/1 to eventual winner Sarah Fitz-Gerald. A hat trick of semi slots this year in her eleventh performance?
Ebullient off court and a serious competitor on, Linda will head a strong English delegation in Hong Kong.
Vanessa Atkinson
World ranking: 6 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 10th March 1976
Age: 27
Lives: The Hague
World Open debut: 1995
Although born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Vanessa came through the Dutch junior system, having been resident there for many years.
The seven-times Dutch champion is now making a serious mark on the international stage and celebrated a career-high world No5 ranking in November last year.
She achieved a significant breakthrough in the 2000 British Open when she upset top seed and world champion Cassie Jackman to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Later in the year she won her first WISPA title in New York.
Seven finals later, Vanessa has now accrued a total of four titles - including her most recent, the Irish Open in May, when she upset favourite Cassie Jackman in a five-game final. For good measure, Atkinson repeated the win over her English rival in the final of the European Team Championships in Nottingham, causing England to concede their first match in a final for 15 years.
Her best World Open performance came at her eighth attempt last year when she reached the quarter finals for the first time, losing to Sarah Fitz-Gerald (as she had done in the last 16 the year before.
Natalie Grinham
World ranking: 7 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 16th March 1978
Age: 25
Lives: Almere, Netherlands
World Open debut: 1997
Overshadowed by her older sister for most of life, Natalie achieved the ultimate family victory in the Texas Open when, unseeded, she beat fourth seed Rachael in the quarter-finals in straight games.
"I've waited 25 years for this win - I've never beaten her at any level before," said the ecstatic Natalie afterwards. It was only two months earlier that the Queenslander claimed her first ever WISPA World Tour title wins in New York and Connecticut - within six days of each other!
The Toowoomba twosome became the first sisters to appear in the world top ten together in February this year, and now that Natalie has moved up to a career-high No8, she has narrowed the gap behind Rachael to five places.
She would be the first to admit that she has made little impression at the Worlds so far, having lost in the qualifiers in 1997 in her first outing and never got beyond the last 16; but her improved confidence and performance makes doing so a distinct possibility this year.
Tania Bailey
World ranking: 8 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 2nd October 1979
Age: 24
Lives: Stamford, Lincs, England
World Open debut: 1998
Tania, although she only started to play when she was aged nine, has had a very successful junior career having played representatively 22 times and won the European and British Junior titles.
She had planned to go to university, but a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1997 led to her returning home as World Junior Champion and her thoughts moved to a professional career.
As she has already become an established international she is making great progress towards her goals, although during 2001 this was halted by time out with a nasal operation and then a summer knee op which kept her away from court for the remainder of 2001.
Recovery was going well until she picked up a troublesome virus which has kept her off court for a lot of the 2003 season.
Her World Open exploits have featured three quarter final slots in her five appearances, though last year she went out to Jenny Tranfield in the last 16.
World ranking: 17 (Nov 2003)
Date of Birth: 24th November 1978
Age: 24
Lives: Hong Kong
World Open debut: 1995
Rebecca has come a long way since she played in the World Open in Hong Kong in 1995 as a sixteen year old. She didn't make the main draw then, but will certainly do so when it returns to her home this year. Indeed, helped by local support she will surely hope to ambush a top seed or two.
After reaching the semi finals of the World Junior Championship in 1997 she has gone on to win four WISPA Tour events; the Japan Open three times and the Winterthur Challenge in Hong Kong. However, even these were overshadowed by her triumph in the Asian Games in South Korea last year when she beat Nicol David of Malaysia in the final to win Gold.
Her accurate play and big heart, coupled with playing in front of a home crowd will make Rebecca a dangerous World Open opponent for anybody.