Seeds Sparkle

By OSCAR PILIPILI

The Real Insurance Kenya Open Tennis Championships lived up to its billing after the ladies singles top seeds advanced to the finals scheduled for the Nairobi Club today.

Top seed Caroline Oduor beat South Africa third seed Ohmer Fernandez with straight sets of 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-final encounter to advance to the final.

Oduor, who was eager to reclaim the title she won for the last time in 2009, wasted no time as she struck with powerful strokes and great footwork to win the first set 6-0.

Fernandez, who trains at Sadili Oval, tried to come back into the game after she leveled at 1-1 game, but the winner maintained her game to win the next five subsquent games and the wrap up the set 6-1.

Second seed Evelyn Otula advanced to the final following a convincing 6-0, 6-0 victory over junior star Paige Mbugua in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Oduor and Otula’s meeting is a repeat of the 2008 final where the latter emerged victorious at the same venue. The finalists expressed joy in reaching the final, but were non-committal on commenting on the deciding match.

Oduor said: "A tennis match is won on court and not by the word of mouth. The winner will be known after the final court tomorrow."

Otula said: "The best player will win tomorrow and that’s what I can say." But the Championshipss referee Patrick Kamuhia felt that any one of the two players can win the title.

"All the finalists are equally good and anyone of them can win," said Kamuhia after watching the semis.

The men’s category saw the top two seeds, Duncan Mugabe of Uganda and Edgar Kazembe of Zambia qualify for the final after winning respective matches.

Mugabe who is the title holder beat sixth seed Mathieu Uwizeyimana of Rwanda 6-3, 6-4 in a thrilling semi-final encounter to advance to the final. Fourth seed Kazembe upset second seed Jean Claude Gasigwa of Rwanda with straight sets of 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the final.

In the Juniors Championships, Amadi Kagoma beat Jamine Luvembe 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a three setter thriller to claim boys’ under-18 title.

The boys’ under-12 honours went to Keean Shah who defeated Geofrey Ogego 6-3, 6-0 to be crowned the champion.

Keen Shah lifted the under-12 boys’ singles trophy following a 6-7(1), 7-6(7), 6-2 victory over Sahil Shah during an thrilling encounter that attracted a big crowd.

The tournament which is sponsored by Real Insurance Company Limited ends today with presentation ceremony at 2pm.

Kenya Lawn Tennis Association chairperson Paurval Rawal has called upon fans to come in large numbers and grace the finals.

"Kenya Open is the biggest event in our calendar and on behalf of the association invite fans to watch the finals which are promising to be exciting," she said at the Club. The juniors category has attracted 140 participants, according to the march referee Patrick Kamuhia.