W35 Tennis: Angela Okutoyi through to quarter-finals

African Games champion Angela Okutoyi has qualified for the quarter-finals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) W35 Women’s World Tour ongoing at the Nairobi Club.

This, after her opponent Yufei Ren from China resigned in the second set.

Okutoyi had won the first set 6-2 and was leading 4-3 in the second set before her opponent resigned due to a nagging back problem.

“I slid and injured my back while practicing last Saturday afternoon. I therefore missed practice for two days, rested and took pain medication but still I could not play," Ten, who revealed she enjoyed playing in Kenya, explained. "I really suffered in the first round as I was playing with a lot of pain and to make it worse I am not a clay court player which made things bad."

Okutoyi sympathised with her opponent admitting that it was a tough match for her.

“I played really well in the first set with unbelievable ball control and did not give her time. But in the second set I lost focus and was giving away a lot of free points. Instead of thinking about the next points, I was focused on the past.

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However, support from my team kept me going. It is very tough to retire in a match you really want to win and so I feel for Ren. Back pain is particularly difficult to deal with and I wish her a quick recovery,” said Okutoyi.

Meanwhile, Sada Nahimana from Burundi also made it to the quarter-finals after stopping Nagomi Higashitani from Japan 6-3, 6-2. The Burundian dominated both sets, breaking her opponents serve on several occasions to win the match.

In other results, Zuzanna Pawlikowska from Poland edged out Lian Tiran from Netherlands 6-4, 7-5 while Alyssa Reguer from France beat Ksenial Laskutova from Romania 6-4,6-3. Francesca Pace from Italy beat Nehira Samon from France 6-4, 6-1.