Tennis: All hopes are high as Angela Okutoyi readies for Australian Open

Kenyan tennis sensation Angella Okutoyi on Monday arrived in Melbourne ahead of her debut at the Australian Open Junior Tennis Championship in Australia.

The reigning Africa junior champion will be competing in two tournaments in Australia.

Okutoyi will compete in J1 Traralgon slated for January 14-19 and the JA Australian Open from January 22-29 as she eyes a top-30 place in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior rankings.

Ranked 60th in the latest International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior rankings announced on January 3, which is her new career-high, Okutoyi is among the 46 junior girls in the Main Draw of the Australian Junior Open.

In November last year, Okutoyi was crowned the 2021 Africa Junior Under-18 champion

This is after she swept aside top seed Aya El Aouni (126) of Morocco 6-3, 6-3 to be crowned champion in the finals played in Sousse, Tunisia.

Okutoyi’s last competition was the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour in Monastir, Tunisia on December 6.

Okutoyi has competed in J5 Sfax and J3 Megrine in Tunisia in April, two J3 Cairo tournaments and one J2 Cairo in Egypt in August, J2 Cairo in September and J3 Stellenbosch, J2 Stellenbosch and JA Cape Town in South Africa in October as well as J2 Sousse.

Okutoyi featured in Under-14 tournaments in the USA, France, Belgium and Germany in 2018.

She will be competing in Australia for the first time ever.