Tennis ace Angella Okutoyi lifts prestigious Wimbledon title to become first ever Kenyan to win a Grand Slam

18-year old tennis prodigy Angella Okutoyi went down into the history books on Saturday 9 July 2022 as she lifted the Wimbledon Girls' Doubles title to become the first ever Kenyan player to win in any Grand Slam Tournament.

Making just her third appearance in a major tennis tournament, after bows in the Australian Open and the Roland Garros, the Kenyan youngster, together with her Dutch partner Rose Marie Nijkamp, defeated the Canadian pair of Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko 3-6, 6-4 (11-9) to write the history books by lifting the Junior Girls Doubles title.

The title deciding match that lasted for 1 hour and 15 minutes threatened to slip away from Okutoyi and Nijkamp's grasp as they lost the first set 3-6, the Canadian duo breaking in the first and ninth games to put themselves in the driving seat.

In the second set however, the pair refused to give the Canadians any space as they broke first in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. After holding onto their own serve, the pair broke again in the fifth game to give themselves breathing room with a 4-1 lead.

Cross and Mboko managed to get one break immediately in the next game but it proved too little late as Okutoyi and Nijkamp steadily held onto their serve to take the set 6-4, consequently forcing the game into a deciding tiebreaker.

With nerves seemingly playing a part in the decider, both sides failed to hold onto their serves as they traded a combined total of nine lost serves.It is Okutoyi and Nijkamp who however manager to break on match point to complete the comeback and clinch the Wimbledon's title and make the historic feat.

Angella Okutoyi – Tennis barrier breaker who rose from a children's orphanage to the Grand Slam