England's Tania Bailey and Netherlands' Vanessa Atkinson have qualified for the first time for the Women's World Grand Prix Finals after making the top eight in the Grand Prix 2000 standings which have been announced today (Tuesday 12 December) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).
New Zealand's world No1 Leilani Joyce, winner of four of the titles including the British Open, heads the list of eight players who achieved the most points in the WISPA World Tour Grand Prix events this year which include the Al-Ahram International and Heliopolis Open in Egypt, the Carol Weymuller Open in the USA, the World Open in Scotland, and the British Open in England.
The 2001 World Grand Prix Finals will also feature the return of Australia's three-times former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, who crowned her comeback this year after injury by winning last week's UniversalSportsClub Classic in London, the final GP event of the year.
The players who have qualified alongside Bailey, Atkinson, Joyce and Fitz-Gerald are Australia's World Open champion and World Grand Prix Finals title-holder Carol Owens and England's Natalie Grainger, Linda Charman and Suzanne Horner.
Tania Bailey, the world No6 from Stamford in Lincolnshire, was a semi-finalist in both the Al-Ahram International and Carol Weymuller Open, and reached the last eight in the World Open for the second successive year. English-born Vanessa Atkinson, from The Hague, secured three quarter-final berths in the series, including a maiden British Open quarter-final appearance after a memorable victory over England's top seed Cassie Campion, the then world No1.
The 2001 World Grand Prix Finals will take place in Hurghada, Egypt, from 25-31 March.
