TENNIS: Okutoyi, Njogu sail into ITF Tour quarter finals

Albert Njogu return ball during the ITF World Tennis Tour U18 Championships at Nairobi Club on Wed Jan 30, 2019. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Angela Okutoyi and Albert Njogu yesterday won their respective girls’ and boys’ singles matches to book their places in the quarter finals of the ongoing Under-18 International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Championships at Nairobi Club. 

Okutoyi, who is looking to redeem herself following a first round elimination in last week’s ITF Under-18 Junior Circuit, put up a spirited fight against Anna Lemongo of Cameroon to emerge victorious. The Kenyan girl survived a third set tie-break to win in 7-6(4),3-6,7-6(6) against seventh seeded Lemongo, who staged a brilliant show last week losing in the final to Germany’s Joelle Steur.  

Okutoyi, who is Kenya’s top junior player, will today face Morocco’s fourth seed Salma Loudili, who overcame Egyptian Habiba Farouk in 6-3,6-2.

The match was tightly contested as both players were ready to go down and put their best foot forward to gain points. The Cameroonian was superb in the second set after twice breaking her Kenyan opponent twice. Nonetheless, a Okutoyi remained solid to break the tie in the third set and snatch victory.

In the boys’ contest, seeded fifth Njogu made light work of Egypt’s Aly Shokeir ranked seven places before winning in straight sets to secure his place in the last eight. Njogu wore the composure of a veteran player to take the first set 6-0 before winding it up in 6-2.

Njogu will today face familiar foe and tournament top seed Abdul Shakur Kabura who defeated  American Arun Guruswamy in straight sets of 6-1,6-2.

“I felt good on court because my game was solid. I want to keep improving so that so I can gain more confidence. I am looking forward to play Shakur again because we had good matches before and he is a tough opponent but I hope to carry the day ,” Njogu said.

However, Roselida Asumwa was unlucky succumbing to a 6-2, 6-0 defeat Sara El Ghazouly of Egypt. Asumwa won only two games across the sets was no mean feat for her opponent who is ranked  third in the tournament. The Kenyan girl struggled as she made numerous errors on her serves which gave the Egyptian an upper hand.

Meanwhile Maria Sharapova’s ongoing right shoulder problems led her to pull out of the Saint Petersburg tournament, the organisers said yesterday.

The 31-year-old has been struggling back to elite fitness since watching from the sidelines during a 15-month doping ban ended in 2017.

The five-time major winner beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia 6-0, 6-4 in her debut in the tournament, but suffered with her shoulder injury afterwards. “I have worked hard for months to put it (her shoulder) in order, but to no avail,” she said.