And… Vanessa Atkinson beats top seed Nicol David in a rather tight game (9-6, 9-2, 9-10, 9-7) that saw Atkitson drop her first game in New York. This means that Vanessa Atkinson has captured the first major women’s squash title this year, and is progressing steadily towards unseating our champion Nicol David of her World No. 1 ranking.

If Nicol David fails to win the Kuala Lumpur Open (Feb 15-18), of which she is defending champion, Vanessa Atkinson will regain the World No. 1 ranking lost to her in January this year.

Note: I’m not very sure about what I wrote in the paragraph above this one. It could be that Vanessa Atkinson has already regained the World No. 1 ranking with this victory over Nicol David (regardless of whether Nicol wins or loses the KL Open). Support for this version of events can be seen in today’s New Straits Times:

The Malaysian faced World No 2 Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands in the final early this morning with the winner is assured of the World No 1 ranking next month.

Edit: Today’s (9th Feb.) Malay Mail article on Nicol David’s loss clarifies this. Apparently, this loss will not affect her World No. 1 ranking.