Okutoyi secures silver in W35 Nairobi tournament

Kenya’s top tennis player Angella Okutoyi has no time to rest as she shifts her focus to representing Auburn University in the upcoming 2025 spring match schedule after settling for second place in the W35 Nairobi 2 tournament at the Nairobi Club on Sunday.

Okutoyi, who lost 6-1, 6-4 to W35 Nairobi 1 champion Joanna Garland from Chinese Taipei, fought hard in the second set during the final of the second tournament. She will fly back to the USA on Tuesday.

Currently on a full tennis scholarship, Okutoyi is entering her third year at Auburn University, where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. Auburn's women’s tennis team will play a series of dual matches, welcoming North Alabama (January 18), University of Alabama at Birmingham (January 18), Tennessee Tech (January 20), and Western Carolina (January 20) before the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kickoff Weekend on January 24.

For the first time since 2008, Auburn will host the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship at Yarbrough Tennis Center from April 16-20. The NCAA Team Championship will take place from May 15-18 in Waco, Texas, the same venue as the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships, where Okutoyi competed last November alongside three other Auburn players.

“My plans now are to go back to school and play for my school. After that, hopefully, in the summer, I will play some future events, most probably in Europe, then head back to school, and in December, we’ll see what’s next,” said Okutoyi, who also won the doubles title in W35 Nairobi 2 with partner Sada Nahimana from Burundi on Saturday evening.

Reflecting on her final match against Garland at W35 Nairobi 2, Okutoyi acknowledged the tough competition. “Joanna is a really good opponent, and she fights for every point,” said Okutoyi, a multiple Kenya Open champion.
However, Okutoyi enjoys playing against opponents like Garland. “When you win against someone like that, you know you’ve truly earned it,” she said.

“It didn’t go my way today, but I’d like to congratulate her for fighting through. Playing against a [partisan] crowd is not easy, but she pulled it through, and that’s a big up for her,” said the 2022 Junior Championships, Wimbledon doubles winner.

One area Okutoyi felt didn’t work well for her in the final was her serve, which is typically one of her strengths. “I wouldn’t say too much about the serve because when I needed them most, they were going in. Maybe during the rallies, like on the forehand side, she was aiming more at that side. So definitely that, but all in all, I fought till the end, but it didn’t go as planned,” she explained.

Garland expressed regret for denying Okutoyi a win on home soil.

“It was a really good week for her, so I told her congratulations and also sorry because if she had won, it would have been a perfect ending. But I’ve heard her story, and I’m very proud of her. I’ll be rooting for her in the future,” said Garland, who has now won six of her last seven W35 tournaments across Turkey, Italy, Egypt, and Nairobi.

She has won 39 out of her last 40 matches, losing only in the final of W35 Sharm El Sheikh on December 15, 2024. Okutoyi reached her first singles final in 13 tournaments.

In the last two W35 Nairobi events, Okutoyi earned 31 world ranking points in singles (eight from reaching the quarterfinals in W35 Nairobi 1 and 23 from being a finalist in W35 Nairobi 2).

She started the year ranked 729th in the world but has already climbed 51 places to 678th. She is set to enter the Top 600 in singles on the next ranking release. Additionally, she earned 49 points in doubles, moving her from 529th to a projected top-450 ranking.