History-girl Okutoyi storms Wimbledon junior doubles final
Kenyan tennis prodigy, Angella Okutoyi is pictured following a training session in Nairobi on April 26, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Okutoyo and her partner Rose Marie Nijkamp from the Netherlands stunned third-seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric (Croatia)/Nikola Daubnerova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4 on the grass courts of All England Lawn Tennis Club on Friday to qualify for the final.
- Okutoyi/Nijkamp came from behind in both sets.
Tennis sensation Angella Okutoyi continued to write more history after becoming the first Kenyan to reach the final of the doubles Junior Championships at Wimbledon.
Okutoyi and her partner Rose Marie Nijkamp from the Netherlands stunned third-seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric (Croatia)/Nikola Daubnerova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4 on the grass courts of All England Lawn Tennis Club on Friday to qualify for the final.
Okutoyi/Nijkamp came from behind in both sets.
Okutoyi/Nijkamp came from 2-1 down to bag the first set 6-3 in 27 minutes. They also came from 2-0 down to level at 4-4 to clinch the second set 6-4 in 45 minutes.
On the way to the final, Okutoyi/Nijkamp swept aside Georgia Pedone (Italy)/Kaitlin Quevedo (USA) 6-4, 6-4, Denislava Glushkova (Bulgaria)/Hayu Kinoshita (Japan) 6-2, 6-3, Czech nationals Linda Klimovicova and Dominika Salkova 6-7, 6-4, 11-9 in the first three rounds.
Third-seeded Lucija Ciric Bagaric (Croatia)/Nikola Daubnerova (Slovakia) went past Belgians Amelie Van Impe and Amelie Waligora 1-6, 7-5, 10-3, Yu-Yun Li (Taipei)/Sara Saito (Japan) and Sayaka Ishii (Japan)/Lanlana Tararudee (Thailand) 6-2, 7-6.
“I am happy. I don’t even have words to explain how I’m feeling right now, but all I can say is nothing goes wrong for a dreamer who believes,” Okutoyi told Nation Sport after the historic win.
“Rose and I kept being positive and pumping each other up.”
On Saturday’s final where they will meet the winner between Nikola Bartunkova (Czech)/Celine Naef(Switzerland) and Canadians Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko, Okutoyi said: “It's like any other Doubles match, not easy but we are there for the challenge.”
Apart from Okutoyi, other Kenyans who have competed at Wimbledon are Christian Vitulli and Paul Wekesa. Vitulli reached boys doubles quarterfinals in 2006, while Wekesa was eliminated in men’s singles first round in 1996.
In the Billie Jean King Cup, Kenya lost 2-0 against Botswana in the Europe/Africa III 9th to 12th Play-Off on the clay courts of the Tennis Club Jug in Skope, North Macedonia.
Okutoyi’s twin sister Roselida Asumwa suffered 6-0, 6-3 in the first match against Chelsea Chakanyuka before Ekua Youri wrapped up the win for Botswana by defeating Alicia Owegi 6-1, 6-2 in the second match.
Coach Lawrence Karanja’s side had registered mixed results in Pool “D” after losing 3-0 at the hands of Kosovo and then defeating Namibia by a same margin before narrowly losing against Albania 2-1.
Kosovo won the group after winning all their matches followed by Albania who bagged two wins and one loss and then Kenya on one win and two losses. Namibia ended the group without a win.
