by Ian Marshall, Editor

Promotion means that China reserves the top five places; Ding Ning remains ahead of Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng with Liu Shiwen once again in the no.5 position.

The player to fall is Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa, she moves in the exact opposite direction to Wang Manyu; previously named at no.4, she now occupies the no.6 spot. A drop down the order for Kasumi Ishikawa, for colleagues Mima Ito and Miu Hirano it is the status quo, Mima Ito remains at no.7, Miu Hirano at no.9; sandwiched in between is Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching, she appears once more in the no.8 position.

Next on the list is Singapore’s Feng Tianwei followed by Korea Republic’s Suh Hyowon, both players retaining their April positions; however, one position lower there is a change. Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Japan’s Hitomi Sato change places. Doo Hoi Kem now appears at no.12, Hitomi Sato at no.13.

Progress for Doo Hoi Kem, there is also notable progress for DPR Korea’s Kim Song I and China’s He Zhuojia; Kim Song I moves from no.19 to no.15 and thus equals her high career listing. She reached the same status in July 2017. Notably, for He Zhuojia it is the highest standing of her career; her previous best being no.27 at the start of the year, she advances from no.31 to no.18.

Climbing the ladder, there is also most noticeable progress for Gu Yuting, also from China, as there is from Portugal’s Shao Jieni and Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus. Gu Yuting moves from no.61 to no.41, Shao Jieni from no.105 to no.88; Viktoria Pavlovich from no.111 to no.94.

Conversely, in the opposite direction there are significant falls for China’s Zhang Rui and Korea Republic’s Yang Haeun; Zhang Rui drops from no.58 to no.77, Yang Haeun is now at no.45, previously she occupied the no.28 position.

Tuesday 2nd April: Complete World Rankings