Nicol David moves to #1 on the strength of her Malaysian Open win. © 2006 Alex Wan.

Victories in both the Qatar Airways Challenge and CIMB Malaysian Open last month have taken Malaysia's Nicol David back to number one in the new August Women’s World Squash Rankings, published today (Tuesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

After winning seven WISPA World Tour titles in 2005, crowning the year by securing the World Open title for the first time, the 22-year-old from Penang became world number one for the first time in January. 

Three months later, however, Vanessa Atkinson reclaimed the title after two successive final wins over the Malaysian.  The Dutch star lost her unbeaten record in 2006 at last week's Malaysian Open, and now slips to No2 behind David.

Australian sisters Rachael Grinham and Natalie Grinham stay at three and four, respectively, in the new list – while English players Jenny Duncalf and Vicky Botwright hold onto fifth and sixth positions.

England's Tania Bailey, who scored a notable straight games upset over Atkinson en-route to a surprise appearance in the Malaysian Open final, moves up to No7 – the 26-year-old from Lincolnshire's highest ranking for three years.

While the now-retired Linda Elriani slips out of the top ten for the first time since January 1999, England maintains its record of having four players in the world top ten:  Londoner Alison Waters rises to a career-high No10 after reaching the Malaysian Open quarter-finals against the seedings.

Egypt's Engy Kheirallah is also rewarded for a successful run - which included a runners-up berth in April's Texas Open and qualification in the Malaysian Open – by a two-place jump to a career-best No14.

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