Hail the tennis queen: Angella Okutoyi completes the double in Nairobi

Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi is now eyeing a slot at the Paris 2024 Olympics after sweeping singles and doubles titles in the second the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour (W25) at the Nairobi Club.

Okutoyi on Saturday clinched the singles title by outclassing German Lena Papadakis 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, a day after striking gold in doubles with partner Sada Nahimana from Burundi.

The Junior Wimbledon Doubles 2022 champion Okutoyi, who turns 20 on January 29, is the first Kenyan to win the USD25,000 (Sh3.8 million) event.

She collected prize money of USD3,935 (Sh608,653) by winning singles and will split USD1,437 (Sh222,270) with Nahimana for the doubles triumph.

“I feel like I have a chance to qualify. Winning gold in singles and doubles in the second Nairobi tournament gives me a lot of motivation for next year to work even harder to improve my rankings and qualify,” Okutoyi told Nation Sport.

Okutoyi, whose tennis idol is American great Serena Williams, must be in the top-56 in WTA Singles rankings on June 10, 2024 to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

The other route is to win the 2023 African Games in March 2024 in Ghana.
In the singles final attended by Africa’s fastest man Fredinand Omanyala, ambassadors Sebastian Groth (Germany) and Arnaud Suquet (France) and Kisii County Senator Richard Onyonka, Okutoyi gave as much as she got in the first set but found herself 2-3 behind.

She took control of the set after 3-3 thanks to her great serves and also Papadakis double-faulting twice.

The serve became Okutoyi’s major undoing in the second set and was also pegged back by some powerful serves from the German, who registered two aces.

Okutoyi bounced back in the third set, racing to 5-0 with good serves troubling Papadakis, earning her an ace and never letting go.

“I did not reach my target in the first tournament because I was eliminated in the second round in singles and won silver in doubles, so I’m happy to win both categories in the second tournament. The singles final was good although Lena gave me a hard time in the second set. I feel my serve was at some point my weak point, but I really worked hard in the third set to win the match and the title,” explained Okutoyi.  

On her way to the final, Okutoyi defeated Indian qualifier Teja Tirunelveli (1,097) 6-2, 6-4, Slovak Viktoria Morvayova (516) 6-1, 6-3, Italian sixth-seed Miriana Tona (410) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 and Lucie Nguyen Tan from France (586) 6-4, 6-4 in the first four rounds.

On the other hand, 25-year-old Papadakis (577) went past German qualifier Anastasiya Kuparev 6-0, 6-2, third-seed Jia-Jing Lu from China 6-1, 6-3, seventh-seed Emma Lene from France 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 and eighth-seed Fanny Ostlund from Sweden 7-6, 6-4 in that order.

Okutoyi collected 50 WTA points in singles and 50 in doubles at the Nairobi Club.

Enroute the doubles crown, Okutoyi/Nahimana defeated Nagomi Higashitani (Japan)/Amanda Elkin (Mexico) 6-2, 6-4, Italian fourth seeds Diletta Cherubini/Martina Colmegna 6-3, 6-3, second seeds Mariana Gonzalez (Colombia)/Ksenia Laskutova (Russia) 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 and third seeds Jessie Aney (USA)/Lena Papadakis (Germany) 6-4, 3-6, 10-7, respectively.

In the first W25 event held on clay courts at Karen Country Club from December 10-17, the Kenyan beat Swiss qualifier Sophie Luescher 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round before being eliminated in the second round by Lu after losing 6-4, 6-4 in singles to amass five points.

Okutoyi/Higashitani dismissed Stefanie Auer (Austria)/Sophie Luescher (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-2, second seeds Gonzalez/Laskutova 7-6, 7-5 and third seeds Aney/Papadakis 7-6, 6-4 before settling for silver medal after losing 6-4, 7-6 against top seeds Fanny Ostlund (Sweden)/Valeriya Strakhova (Ukraine), collecting 30 points.

Collecting 55 points in singles and 80 points in doubles from the Nairobi events places Okutoyi in good stead to ascend the WTA rankings, where she is at position 943 in singles and 1,197 in doubles.

It means she will improve her career-best of 860 to at least inside top-700 in singles and top-600 in doubles, where she has a career-high of 942.

Okutoyi is the first Kenyan player - man or woman - to win a professional singles event since Paul Wekesa achieved the feat at Andorra Challenger in 1994 after she won W15 Monastir in Tunisia in July this year.

The 2018 SOYA Awards Most Promising Sport Personality has added another feather to her cap.