Whilst Australians Michelle Martin and Sarah Fitz-Gerald maintain their world No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, New Zealand's Leilani Joyce leaps up to a career-high No. 3 in the new July women's world squash rankings, announced today (2nd July) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

Joyce, 25, from Hamilton, has pushed England's Cassie Jackman into fourth place after beating the Norfolk player en-route to winning the Bright Lights Las Vegas Open in May, her third WISPA World Tour title this year.

Jackman, 26, now based in Halifax in Yorkshire, slipped one place in the new list despite winning the Mexican Open in May - her last WISPA title as Cassie Jackman before returning to the circuit as Cassie Campion after marrying former international player David Campion later this month.

South Africa's Natalie Grainger also moves up to a career-best position, making her world top five debut at No. 5. Grainger and Cassie Jackman have just returned from Prague where they played various exhibition matches on the WISPA promotional tour to the Czech Republic.

Making her debut in the world top twenty is Wales' Tegwen Malik, at 20, while career-best positions are also achieved by England's Stephanie Brind and Jenny Tranfield who move to 12 and 15, respectively, and Australia's Rachael Grinham who rises to No. 16.

1 [1] Michelle Martin AUS
2 [2] Sarah Fitz-Gerald AUS
3 [5] Leilani Joyce NZL
4 [3] Cassie Jackman ENG
5 [7] Natalie Grainger RSA
6 [6] Sue Wright ENG
7 [4] Suzanne Horner ENG
8 [9] Linda Charman ENG
9 [8] Sabine Schoene GER
10 [10] Carol Owens AUS
11 [12] Rebecca Macree ENG
12 [13] Stephanie Brind ENG
13 [11] Fiona Geaves ENG
14 [14] Claire Nitch RSA
15 [16] Jenny Tranfield ENG
16 [19] Rachael Grinham AUS
17 [18] Liz Irving AUS
18 [17] Vanessa Atkinson NED
19 [15] Jane Martin ENG
20 [21] Tegwen Malik WAL

[Also: SquashTalk rankings link page]

Issued on behalf of WISPA by Howard Harding

For further information: Howard Harding Email: HowHard@aol.com

2 July 1999