Ahoya, who was seeded eighth in the tournament, lost to Taipei’s Chou Pin Sen 6-1, 6-0 in the opening round but believes she will be competitive in the second leg of the tournament.
“I have a second opportunity to bounce back next week, and so for the remaining days, I go back to the drawing board to work on a few aspects of my game. I want to be sharper and reduce my error rate when we play next week,” added Ahoya.
Ahoya, alongside Nancy Kawira, are using the twin tournaments as preparation to gain selection to the final Kenya team for the Billie Jean King Cup tournament slated for August 4-11 in Namibia.
“It’s a tall order, and the coach will be looking at my performances. However, I am confident that with one more tournament and good results, I can still make the side.”
She fared marginally better in the doubles category, where she teamed up with Tumelo Kimunya. They beat Kitain Diana of the USA and Mozambique’s Siena Figueiredo from Mozambique, winning 6-4, 6-3.
They, however, fell short in the quarter-finals, going down to India’s Ishia Masheshwari and Narendra Bendram 6-4, 6-2. Ahoya said there were positives to take from the loss. “We fought hard in the first set, and we were very competitive. However, in the second set, we came unstuck and had lapses of concentration,” observed Ahoya.
On her part, Kawira seeded seventh bowed out in the second round of the singles category, losing to India’s Dia Agarwal 6-1,6-1 after eliminating Thuraka Vishmasri 6-1, 6-3 in the opener. Stacy Yego bowed in the quarter-finals of the girls’ category after losing to Chiara Volante of Italy 6-2, 7-5. Liya Gikunda, Jenerica Thuku, Inaaya Virani, Daniella Muya and Tumelo Kimunya bowed out in the first round of the championship.
