Seline Ahoya and Nancy Kawira have been included in the provisional Team Kenya squad for the Billie Jean King Cup tournament in June at Nairobi Club.
Coach Francis Rogoi said the duo have excelled in age-grade tennis and will be given a chance to prove their worth in the squad before the final Team Kenya is named a fortnight to the championship.
Rogoi is keen to have the two play at the Futures tournament in Tunisia early next month to adapt to the rigours of elite tennis.
“We are working on how to send them to the Futures tournament in Tunisia to give them exposure. They are some of the most talented players in the country and we hope they keep up their good performances in the future,” said Rogoi.
The rest of the team, which did duty last year, have stepped up their training in various parts of the world.
African Games champion Angela Okutoyi is slated to play in the W75 WTA tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina alongside other tournaments.
She seeks to climb into the top 400 players in the world to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Okutoyi's twin sister, Rosehilda Asumwa, and Alicia Owegi are playing in the NCAA tennis tournaments in the USA.
Cynthia Cheruto is in Bujumbura, Burundi, Stacy Yego is in a two-week training camp in Kigali, Rwanda and Melissa Mwakha is training in Zimbabwe.
Rogoi expects the players to be in peak condition by the June 17 Billie Jean King Cup serve-off.
"From my conversations with them, they are in good shape. They are training hard as we seek to go all out and do the country proud in June,” added Rogoi.
Kenya bagged the bronze last year. Rogoi expects improvement in the two categories — doubles and singles.
12 nations will grace the tournament including Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The teams will be split into three pools of four with the top four sides (winner in each group plus 'best loser') meeting in the semifinals.
