Owens Overtakes Fitz-Gerald To Become World No1 In a major surprise in women's squash, New Zealand's Carol Owens replaces Australia's Sarah Fitz-Gerald at the top of the new November Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today (01 November) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA), to become world No1 for the first time in her career. The pair, both originally from Melbourne, have been fierce rivals since beginning their careers in the late eighties. Owens, 31, moved to Auckland in New Zealand three years ago and made her world championships debut for her new country last month. Fitz-Gerald currently boasts an unbeaten record stretching more than a year. Owens last beat the four-times world champion in November 2000, en-route to winning the World Open title for the first time - but has lost ten successive encounters since then, the most recent being the Commonwealth Games final in England in July. "It is simple," said WISPA Director Andrew Shelley in explaining the anomaly. "Sarah admits she doesn't play the system, and has played some lower ranking-points events recently. With a huge total of 8,000 points to come off her tally from last October, after winning the 2001 Qatar Classic & World Open, she has marginally dipped below Carol by dropping her average. Meanwhile, Carol had fewer points coming off in October 2001. "There is no doubt about Sarah's dominance, and her participation in lower points events has been a great boost for local squash enthusiasts - but, in ranking terms, it has worked against her," Shelley explained. "Interestingly, if Sarah had not played the French Open in September - which she won - she would still be No1!" Owens, who is seeded to face Fitz-Gerald in tomorrow's (Saturday) final of the Qatar World Open in Doha, responded: "I'm happy to be number one but it should boil down to beating the top player and I haven't done it consistently. I won't be shouting about it yet!" Dutch No1 Vanessa Atkinson also registers a career-high ranking in the new list - rising one place to No6. Furthermore, Egypt's 17-year-old Omneya Abdel Kawy moves up a further two places to a best-ever world No14. 1 [2] Carol Owens NZL 2 [1] Sarah Fitz-Gerald AUS 3 [3] Cassie Jackman ENG 4 [4] Natalie Pohrer ENG 5 [6] Vanessa Atkinson NED 6 [5] Linda Charman ENG 7 [9] Tania Bailey ENG 8 [7] Rachael Grinham AUS 9 [10] Fiona Geaves ENG 10 [11] Rebecca Macree ENG 11 [8] Stephanie Brind ENG 12 [13] Natalie Grinham AUS 13 [12] Suzanne Horner ENG 14 [16] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 15 [15] Vicky Botwright ENG 16 [14] Pamela Nimmo SCO 17 [19] Jenny Tranfield ENG 18 [17] Shelley Kitchen NZL 19 [18] Nicol David MAS 20 [20] Ellen Petersen DEN