Wee Wern Bursts Into Historic World Top Five by Howard Harding 1 October 2014 -
Just days after helping her country achieve gold in the Asian Games in
South Korea, Low Wee Wern leaps two places to a career-high No5 in the
Women's World Squash Rankings to join illustrious compatriot Nicol
David in the first ever Women's Squash Association (WSA) list to
feature two Malaysians in the top five.
Laid low by Dengue
fever in July, Wee Wern confirmed her return to top form last month by
winning the WSA Gold 50 China Open for the third time in four years.
Seeded three, the
24-year-old from Penang upset top seed Camille Serme in the final -
clinching her 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10 victory in 102 minutes, her
longest ever match win on the WSA World Tour!
Wee Wern (pictured
above), the only Malaysian squash international to base herself in her
home country, now boasts seven WSA World Tour titles from 17 final
appearances.
Meanwhile David,
double gold medallist in the Incheon Asian Games, is now just one month
away from celebrating 100 unbroken months as the world's number one
woman squash player.
The 31-year-old
Penangite, winner of her 75th World Tour title at the WSA World Series
Hong Kong Open in August, continues to hold off second-placed English
rival Laura Massaro; third-placed Egyptian Raneem El Welily and New
Zealand's No4 Joelle King.
Hong Kong's Annie Au
eases back into the top ten at No10, while England's Sarah Kippax also
moves up a single slot, from 19 to 18, after securing a quarter-final
berth in the China Open.
There is a notable
surge of young Egyptians making waves lower in the October rankings -
including 17-year-old Nouran Gohar rising two places to a career-high
No24 and 18-year-old Salma Hany Ibrahim leaping nine places to a
best-ever No31, both after making the China Open semi-finals as
qualifiers; and 15-year-old Habiba Mohamed Ahmed jumping seven places
to a career-high No27 to become the youngest player in the world top 30.
October top 20 (inc. points average): 1 [1] Nicol David MAS 3,486 2 [2] Laura Massaro ENG 2,287 3 [3] Raneem El Welily EGY 1,878 4 [4] Joelle King NZL 1,153 5 [7] Low Wee Wern MAS 1,133 6 [5] Camille Serme FRA 1,116 7 [6] Alison Waters ENG 1,024 8 [8] Nour El Tayeb EGY 991 9 [9] Nour El Sherbini EGY 906 10 [11] Annie Au HKG 818 11 [10] Amanda Sobhy USA 806 12 [12] Dipika Pallikal IND 775 13 [13] Madeline Perry IRL 707 14 [14] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 646 15 [15] Rachael Grinham AUS 618 16 [16] Jenny Duncalf ENG 577 17 [17] Sarah-Jane Perry ENG 514 18 [19] Sarah Kippax ENG 511 19 [18] Kasey Brown AUS 495 20 [20] Emma Beddoes ENG 478
