Okutoyi to headline W25 Nairobi events
Angella Okutoyi of Kenya poses for a photo with the Kenya Open trophy at Nairobi Club on August 12, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by ITF for female professional tennis players.
- It serves as a developmental circuit for the WTA Tour. It is run by the independent WTA and has prize money ranging from USD15,000 to USD100,000.
Kenya’s top ranked female tennis player Angella Okutoyi has entered the W25 Nairobi tournaments slated for December 10 to 24 at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi.
Okutoyi is expected home for the two events alongside her twin sister Roselida Asumwa and Alicia Owegi, who are all based in the USA.
Okutoyi is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management on a full four-year tennis scholarship awarded to her by Auburn University after the US Open Junior Championships in September 2022.
Owegi is studying for a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences at Alabama University, while Asumwa is doing a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management at Cowley College.
Okutoyi and Asumwa were awarded a three-membership by Karen Country Club in August 2022, so they will be playing at their home turf.
“They have all registered for the event. I hope they manage to come,” Tennis Kenya (TK) Executive Officer Nancy Nduku told Nation Sport.
“It's the first time we are holding W25 in Kenya. It's a partnership between TK, International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Karen Country Club.”
Okutoyi won her maiden ITF World Tennis Tour crown during the W15 Monastir in July this year to become the first Kenyan player to lift singles silverware on the ITF World Tennis Tour and the first player from Kenya to win a professional singles event since Paul Wekesa achieved the fete at Andorra Challenger in 1994.
She broke into Top 1,000 in WTA Singles Ranking for the first time after the achievement. Okutoyi rose three places to a new career best of 860 in the WTA Singles Rankings released on Monday.
She wrote history at the 2022 Australian Open by becoming the first Kenyan girl to win a match in the Junior Grand Slam.
Okutoyi added another piece of history when she teamed up with Rose Nijkamp from the Netherlands at the Wimbledon Junior Championships in July 2022 to win the girls’ doubles event.
She graduated to seniors after the 2022 US Open Junior Championships. Okutoyi reached the final of W15 Nairobi at Karen Country Club on November 20, 2022, losing to German Emily Seibold.
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by ITF for female professional tennis players. It serves as a developmental circuit for the WTA Tour. It is run by the independent WTA and has prize money ranging from USD15,000 to USD100,000.
