LAURA Massaro insists she will not change her approach to games and tournaments just because she is now the new world number one.

And the 32-year-old from Chorley says she is as hungry as ever despite achieving nearly everything there is to achieve in the sport.

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The Hoghton-based star jets off to New York this week to compete in the Tournament of Champions - an event being staged at the iconic Grand Central Station.

It is one of the few tournaments that has eluded Massaro’s grasp so far and it is one of the reasons there will be no let up after becoming the first English woman to become world number one for 12 years.

The 2013 World champion, who is seeded number three in New York, will face a qualifier in Saturday’s first round clash and she says there will be no difference in her build-up to the game.

“Being world number one won’t change the way I approach games and tournaments,” said Massaro who follows in the footsteps of compatriots Cassie Jackman (2004) and Lisa Opie (1988) to reach the top spot.

“My aim has always been to take each game as it comes and respect every player. That is the way I approached games when I first turned professional, how I approached games when I broke in to the top 10 and now that I am number one. I am not going to change because I am number one. I would never take anything for granted.

“If you look too far ahead then that is when you come unstuck.

“Of course I go in to every tournament looking to win them and looking to do the best I can but just because I am number one in the world doesn’t mean I have a given right to progress to finals.”

Massaro lost in the semi finals last year to Raneem El Welily and was a beaten finalist in 2014 when she lost to Nicol David - the two players she has replaced as number one.

Massaro crosses the Atlantic in arguably the form of her life after claiming three PSA World Tour titles and competing in four of a possible five finals to surge to the top.

But she would dearly love to add the Tournament of Champions to her collection.

“I love this tournament and the setting, it is such an iconic venue,” added Massaro.

“I’ve reached the final before but have never won it and that is something I would like to achieve.”

It is that winning mentality that has taken her to the top and something that continues to spur her on.

She said: “I’ve been lucky enough to have won the World Open and the British Open but I want to win them again.

“Saying you are a two-time winner sounds so much more better. I suppose I am being greedy!

“It is the same with tournaments I haven’t won. I still want to go out there and win them as well.

“I have never won the Hong Kong Open and I came close last time out when I lost in the final. It is the same with the Tournament of Champions.

“I have never won it before, I reached the final a couple of years ago but that is one I have never won.

“So it is these things that continue to spur me on.”