New Zealand squash player Joelle King has reached the milestone of the world's top 10 rankings.

King, who turns 23 today went up one spot in the latest WISPA rankings to No10, a career first.

The last Kiwi to be ranked in the top 10 was Shelley Kitchen in May 2009.

King played in the US$60,000 US Open first round today and although she was beaten by world No1 Nicol David(Malaysia) she did take the first game 13-11 and was on court against the undisputed top player in the world for 55 minutes. The full score was 11-13, 11-8, 11-6, 11-5.

Squash New Zealand Chief Executive, Jim O'Grady was full of praise for King's achievement and believes her performance and that of a number of other Kiwi players around the world has given the sport a great boost.

"Making the top 10 was one of Joelle's career goals at the start of the year and she will be very satisfied with that achievement. Her ranking has improved steadily throughout the year and breaking itno the top 10 is good reward for plenty of hard work and determination. Along with fellow Kiwi Jaclyn Hawkes, King is a great role model for our sport and this accomplishment plus her gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2010 continues to lift the profile of squash in New Zealand," says O'Grady.

Kiwi No2 Jaclyn Hawkes remained at No15 in the world while Martin Knight moved up three places on the PSA rankings to now sit at 43.