Africa junior champion Angela Okutoyi breezed past Australian Zara Larke 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 to romp into the third round of the Junior Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.
In a tough three-set battle, the 2018 Kenya Open champion kept her nerve to progress amidst jubilant scenes.
Okutoyi was pushed hard by Larke in the opening set with the two trading point by point. On three occasions, Okutoyi broke her opponent's serve but Larke kept fighting back before Okutoyi wrapped up the opening set.
The second set followed a similar pattern with each player holding serve and fighting hard for every point before going into a tie break where Larke won seven consecutive points to win the set and level the match.
Okutoyi came out firing in the third set, jumpting to an unsailable 3-0 lead. Larke had no answer for the hard-hitting Okutoyi, who punished the Australian to progress.
The country's highest-ranked junior will now face Lola Radivojevic of Serbia in the third round.