Kenya’s Angela Okutoyi and Cynthia Wanjala booked a place in the second leg of the second round in ongoing International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour event at Peponi School, yesterday.
The two beat their opponents from Russia and Brazil respectively to join Judy Nkatha, who had booked her place in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
Sixth seed Sofia Dmitrieva was forced to retire after the first set against Okutoyi after falling ill. The Kenyan top seed had won the first set 6-2 while Wanjala eased past Borges Galvalo in straight sets of 6-3, 7-5.
It was, however, a bad day in the office for All Africa Games hopeful Alicia Owegi who went down by straight sets of 6-3, 6-1 to Sariaka Radilofe of France.
Dmitrieva threw everything at Okutoyi, taking early points of 40-0 before Okutoyi bounced back to force a couple of advantages in her favour before the Russian won the first game.
Okutoyi immediately levelled the scores and went on to take a 4-1, lead thanks to a couple of ferocious shots she hit over the net. The Russian bounced back in the sixth game but Okutoyi stood firm and was able to seal the set in 39 minutes before Dmitrieva retired.
On Court One, Wanjala had to overcome some nerves before strolling into the second round. After surrendering her lead in twice, Wanjala was forced to calm herself before winning the first set 6-3. The second set was evenly contested with both Wanjala and Galvalo exchanging leads before the Kenyan sealed it 7-5
“It was a very close match and could have gone either way. She could have won both two sets but I had to fight hard to win. “I don’t know how I turned round the game. I am really happy with my performance. I am playing some of the best tennis and I am happy,” Wanjala added.
This morning, Nkatha play seventh seed Paulina Jastrzebska from Poland in the second round match before Okutoyi takes on Shivani Chikalapudi from India.
Wanjala will have a date with fourth seed Lexie Stevens of Netherlands in the last singles match of the day.
Wanjala said her match against Stevens is a good opportunity and promised to give her best
“First I am happy that I have been able to get this far and now that I am coming up against a top player, it’s a good thing and I am delighted. I will give it my best and at the same time use it as a learning curve,” she added. In the doubles siblings Okutoyi and Roselida Asumwa take on Jastrzebska and Tiffany Wiliams.
