Okutoyi eliminates top seed to book semis spot at ITF W35 Nairobi tournament

Kenyan tennis star Angella Okutoyi extended her impressive run at the second leg of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour W35 Nairobi after edging out top-seed Isabella Shinikova at Parklands Sports Club to book her place in the singles semifinals.

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Okutoyi produced another battling display on Friday, 9 January to knock off the Bulgarian, who is ranked a superior 357th place in the world.

The 21-year-old Kenyan showed incredible character in coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set to win it 7-5, but found herself at a bigger disadvantage in the second set, which saw Shinikova break to a 4-0 lead, before finding her composure to level the match at 6-4.

The third set witnessed Okutoyi, ranked position 561 in the WTA standings, assert her authority on home soil, rattling four straight games to take a 5-1 lead, a run that held her in good stead as she eventually took it out 6-2 to win the intense quarterfinal that lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes.

Her victory continued a decent week for the Wimbledon doubles champion, who on Wednesday, 7 and Thursday, 8 January dismissed India’s Saumya Vig and Egypt’s Alhussein Abdel Aziz in straight sets respectively.

Okutoyi’s next battle in the singles will come in the shape of another Egyptian - Sandra Samir - who is the number three seed in the tournament.

©Tennis Kenya

The semifinal will take place on Saturday, 10 January from 11 am (EAT), and will come before Okutoyi gets a chance to win another doubles championship, when she pairs up with Demi Tran of the Netherlands, in an afternoon final against the pair of Alyssa Reguer (France) and Yufei Ren (China).

The latter partnership also stood in the way of Okutoyi last weekend, only for the Kenyan, who then paired up with Poland’s Zuzanna Pawlikowska, to win in straight sets of 6-2, 7-5.