Derrick Ominde beat Taiwan’s Chia Chieh Lin 6-7(4), 7-6 (6), 6-4 to progress to the quarter finals of the ITF East Africa 18 and under junior tennis circuit tournament at Nairobi Club.
Ominde matched his opponent in the first set with play going to serve for the opening 12 games in an entertaining match. The two tied at 6-6 before the game went to a tie-break, where Lin showed his class as he rattled several winners to win the opening set. Ominde came out firing on all cylinders, breaking Lin’s serve to race to 2-0. Lin was not going down without a fight and he levelled matters by winning the next two games to tie the match at 2-2. Ominde and Lin traded points on their own serve for the next six
games as the game went into a tie-break. Ominde kept his composure and was able to win 6-1.
Ominde carried the momentum from the second set to the third as he served several winners past Lin to build an early 3-0 lead.
Lin fought back, winning the next two games to reduce the deficit to 3-2 but Ominde was relentless as he won the sixth and seventh games to lead 5-2. A lapse in concentration by Ominde saw Lin come within a game at 5-4 but the former was able to close out the set. Albert Njogu beat Yu Shiang Huang of Taiwan 6-0, 6-1 to advance
to the last eight of the event.
In the girls category, Rosehilda Asumwa lost to Burundi’s Aisha Niyonkuru 6-3, 6-3 with Angela Okutoyi bowing out to Habiba Farouk of Egypt 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.