Angela Okutoyi's W35 tournament double attempt thwarted

Joanna Garland from Chinese Taipei is the winner of the ITF W35 Women's World Tour tournament which ended at Nairobi Club on Sunday 12 January.

She beat Kenyan Angella Okutoyi 6-1, 6-4 in the final to win the $3,000 (Ksh 387,000) top prize for the winner.

Okutoyi walked away with $1,800 (Ksh232,000).

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Garland showed great supremacy in both sets starting off well with a 30-15 score to win the first game.

The Kenyan looked to be struggling from the start as a series of double faults allowed her opponent to catch up and break her serve and take a 2-0 lead in the first set.

Okutoyi fought back to reduce the score to 3-1 by the time the players took the first break.

However Garland stepped up her game and despite Okutoyi’s resistance broke her serve and won hers to claim the first set in 39 minutes.

Cheered on by the huge crowd Okutoyi looked set for a comeback in the second set running off to a 2-1 lead but her opponent soon caught up to tie the game at 2-2.

Okutoyi was soon in trouble after her opponent broke her serve in the fourth game but she recovered almost immediately trying the score to 4-4 and it seems she was set for a major comeback.

But Garland was not letting go and she held on to claim the second set.

“The first set went really fast making it difficult for me to catch up. My opponent discovered that my weakness was on the right side and she kept hitting the ball on my weaker side,” said Okutoyi.

Despite the loss Okutoyi remained grateful for the support from home fans.

“It felt nice to see all these people to cheer me up. I hope that this will continue in future events,” she said.

Garland described the match as her toughest considering the support her opponent was enjoying.

“I am very proud of myself because I was able to hold my nerve against a good player who had the backing of fans behind her,” she said afterwards.

On Thursday, Angella Okutoyi had to dig deep to qualify for the semi-finals after she edged out Monika Stankiewicz from Poland 4-6, 6-2,6-1.

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Okutoyi’s opponent started well in the first set, easily running to a 40-0 score before the Kenyan could respond.

Serving against the wind seemed to affect Stankiewicz with the ball not landing where she wanted.

However, even Okutoyi seemed to be struggling in catching up with her opponent who ran to a 3-2 score before the winner caught up.

The match seemed to turn in the fourth game when Okutoyi lost her serve and her opponent won hers very quickly to claim the first set.

With the crowd behind her, Okutoyi brought her best in the second set, quickly running to a 30-0 score and broke her opponent's serve twice and never looked back.

Okutoyi’s dominance continued in the third set where she completely overcame her opponent.