Okutoyi rises to career best in WTA rankings
Angella Okutoyi (right) and Adeline Flach receive their doubles runners-up awards at W15 Jackson in the USA on October 21, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour incorporates six prize money levels of tournaments: USD15,000, USD25,000, USD40,000, USD60,000, USD80,000 and USD100,000.
- Aryna Sabalenka leads the WTA singles rankings followed by Iga Swiatek (Poland) and Coco Gauff (USA), who have retained their spots, and Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and Jessica Pegula (USA) who have switched places. Ons Jabeur from Tunisia is the best ranked player from Africa at position seven.
Kenya’s top female tennis player Angella Okutoyi has climbed 68 places to a new career best ranking of 869 in WTA Singles rankings released on Monday.
The Kenya Open singles and doubles champion from Auburn University in the USA had a career-high of 928 after winning her first professional title during the W15 Monastir in Tunisia on July 30.
She had dropped to 937 before scaling the new heights after reaching the W15 Jackson second round in singles where she started her campaign in the qualifying draw and also made it to the doubles final in the same event in Tennessee, USA.
At W15 Jackson, Okutoyi and her team-mate from Auburn University Adeline Flach were seeded third in doubles. They were stopped by top-seeds Chieh-Yu Hsu (Chinese Taipei)/Anita Sahdileva (Ukraine) 7-5, 6-3 in the final on October 21.
Since her Monastir fete in July when she became the first Kenyan player to win a singles title on the ITF World Tennis Tour, Okutoyi, who is on a four-year tennis scholarship at Auburn, has not made it past the second round in the main draw in the three tournaments - W15 Hilton Head (September 25 to October 1), W25 Florence (October 9-15) and W15 Jackson (October 16-22).
The 19-year-old’s next assignment is at the W80 Tyler slated for October 23-29 in Texas where she meets 16th-seeded Israeli Nicole Khirin, 22, in the first round qualifying draw. Khirin is up 112 places in the latest singles ranking at position 812.
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour incorporates six prize money levels of tournaments: USD15,000, USD25,000, USD40,000, USD60,000, USD80,000 and USD100,000.
Aryna Sabalenka leads the WTA singles rankings followed by Iga Swiatek (Poland) and Coco Gauff (USA), who have retained their spots, and Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and Jessica Pegula (USA) who have switched places. Ons Jabeur from Tunisia is the best ranked player from Africa at position seven.
