LONDON, England, CMC – Guyana’s squash ace Nicolette Fernandes is back among the world’s top 100 ranked women players and is now 88th on the Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) ratings list.
Sidelined with a career-threatening knee injury for almost two years, Fernandes had tumbled out of the WISPA top 100 in December 2007.
She returned to the pro circuit early this year and steadily resuscitated her career emerging with her No.88 spot in WISPA’s December ratings released Tuesday, a climb of 13 spots from last month.
Fernandes, 26, had fallen as low as 249th – in January this year – in the WISPA rankings because of her inactivity and her return to the top 100 was assured after a solid outing at the Santiago Open in Spain last month where she reached the semi-finals.
After ousting the fourth seed Deon Saffery, from Wales, and France’s Laura Pomportes, Fernandes tackled the top seed and World No.39 Lauren Siddall, of England, and lost in the semi-final of the US$6,800 event at the Santiago Squash Club in Santiago de Compostela.
Against Saffery, WISPA’s 55th ranked player, Fernandes won 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 in the first round and she went on to stop Pomportes 14-12, 11-2, 11-8 in the quarter-finals.
She took a game off Siddall in the semis before the 25-year-old Briton prevailed 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6.
Siddall lost the final to Fiona Moverly, of England, in a five-game thriller.
After undergoing knee surgery in May 2007 when she held a career-best world ranking of 27th, Fernandes would not play her next tournament on the pro circuit until March this year.
She reached the semi-finals of the Eindhoven Open and the final of the Swiss Open in her first events back on the circuit and returned to the Caribbean this past summer to recapture the Caribbean Championship in the Cayman Islands.
Fernandes, the 2006 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games champion, made a huge leap from 215th to 113th in the April ratings and was 104th in June.
She spent the next five months floating just outside the top 100 – between 101 and 103 – before setting up her re-entry to the top frame.
Forexx World Open champion Nicol David, of Malaysia, easily retains the No.1 spot which she has held unbroken for over three years.
England’s Jenny Duncalf, who suffered an upset loss to Fernandes at the 2006 World Open, is now at a career-best No.2 after jumping four places up the ratings.
Australia-born World Open runner-up Natalie Grinham, who now represents the Netherlands, is rated third and her sister Rachael Grinham retains fourth spot.
Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) Rankings – December
1 Nicol David (MAS)
2 Jenny Duncalf (ENG)
3 Natalie Grinham (AUS)
4 Rachael Grinham (AUS)
5 Natalie Grainger (USA)
6 Alison Waters (ENG)
7 Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
8 Madeline Perry (IRL)
9 Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG)
10 Vanessa Atkinson (NED)
88th Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)