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Okutoyi resumes Road to Paris Olympics at US tourney

Angella Okutoyi

Kenya's Angella Okutoyi celebrates a point against Lu Jia-Jing of China during their ITF Women World Tennis Tour  second round singles match on December 13, 2023 at Karen Country Club.

Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group

By  Geoffrey Anene

Reporter

NMG Sport

What you need to know:

  • This will be the first of many women pro tournaments the Kenyan tennis star is expected to play in the next couple of weeks as she seeks to amass crucial points in order to get into top-400 by June 10
  • Okutoyi, who is down six spots to 544th in the latest WTA Singles rankings released on April 15, will start her campaign in the qualifying draw in Charlotteville
  • The highest ranked player at the W75 Charlotteville in singles is American Kayla Day at 84th globally


African Games women singles tennis champion Angella Okutoyi will resume with her Olympic qualification journey by competing at the W75 Charlotteville slated for April 22 to 28 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Virginia, USA.

This will be the first of many women pro tournaments the Kenyan tennis star is expected to play in the next couple of weeks as she seeks to amass crucial points in order to get into top-400 world ranking by June 10 and qualify for 2024 Summer Olympic Games slated for July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.

“As of now, I’m trying to see if I can play a lot of futures from this April to see if I can collect as many points as possible...I need 70 points. So, that’s my main goal as of now and even beyond that. I don’t want to reach 70 points and stall there, but to see how my ranking can go as far as possible. That’s my goal as per now,” the 2018 and 2022 Kenya Open champion Okutoyi told Nation Sport from the USA.

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Okutoyi, who is down six spots to 544th in the latest WTA Singles rankings released on April 15, will start her campaign in the qualifying draw in Charlotteville which has a few familiar faces like Canadian Kayla Cross (255th), Indian Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (323rd) and American Allie Kiick (331st).

Kiick, 28, defeated Okutoyi 6-0, 6-4 in W35 Naples semi-finals in January this year in Florida.

Bhamidipaty also saw off Okutoyi 7-6, 7-5 during the W15 Monastir in Tunisia in August 2022 a few weeks after the Kenyan had made history as the first ever to win Wimbledon after bagging the junior doubles with Rose Marie Nijkamp from the Netherlands by outclassing Canadian pair Kayla Cross/Victoria Mboko 3-6, 6-4, 11-9.

There is one familiar face for Okutoyi in the main draw, Valeriya Strakhova from Ukraine who competed at the W25 Nairobi last year. Strakhova partnered Swede Fanny Ostlund to win doubles in the first W25 Nairobi event against Okutoyi and her Japanese partner Nagomi Higashitani at the Karen Country Club.

The highest ranked player at the W75 Charlotteville in singles is American Kayla Day at 84th globally. 

After the conclusion of W75 Charlottesville, Okutoyi will shift focus to W35 Boca Raton in Florida slated for April 29 to May 5. The 20-year-old second-year Auburn University student is in the main draw.

Winners at the W75 and W35 collect 75 and 35 points, respectively. 

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