Kenya stumble in 2024 Billie Jean King Cup promotion quest after Nigeria loss
13th June 2024
Nigeria beat Kenya 2-1 on Thursday to get early advantage in the promotion race.
- Kenya lost to Nigeria for the second year in a row.
- The hosts will have a rest day on Friday as Nigeria take on top seeds South Africa.
- Kenya will need South Africa to inflict a huge defeat on Nigeria to stand any chance of securing promotion when they clash with the former on Saturday.
For the second year in a row, Kenya’s hopes of gaining
promotion from Group III to Group II in the Billie Jean King Cup took a beating
in the hands of Nigeria who inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the hosts of the 2024 edition
of the tournament taking place at the Nairobi Club in Nairobi.
Kenya had lost the opening rubber when Barakat Oyinlomo dismissed Alicia Owegi with a straight set 6-0, 6-1 win in 57 minutes but the reigning African champion Angella Okutoyi restored parity for her country by beating Adesuwa Osabuohien 6-3, 6-3 to ensure the tie would need to be decided in the Doubles.
Kenya’s team captain Francis Rogoi elected to pair up Okutoyi alongside her twin sister Roselida Asumwa with the hope that the duo would carry the team over the crucial line as Nigeria continued with the Adesuwa/Barakat combination.
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After holding serve in their respective opening games, Kenya created the first break point in the third game but Nigeria quickly snuffed out the danger.
Kenya quickly moved from hunters to the hunted as the tables turned in the next game with Nigeria converting their first break point in the set to take a 3-1 lead.
However, the hosts, backed by a small section of fans, came back charging immediately as they managed to retrieve the break.
Nigeria however managed to pounce on Kenya once again in the eighth game as they took a 5-3 lead at the second time of asking with Asumwa struggling to get her first serve firing.
The West Africans then held serve to take the first set 6-3.
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The second set proved to be a closer affair with Kenya determined not to go down without a fight.
They got the perfect start when they broke Nigeria’s serve in the second game but they could not hold and that situation unfolded when they managed to break again in the sixth game, forcing the match to a tiebreaker that Nigeria won 7-5 to take a crucial step in their promotion quest.
“It has been a tough day in sport for us. We went down 0-1 in the first rubber but we were able to get back at 1-1. The last match which was the deciding rubber had a little bit of hiccups with some pressure and a few balls cost us the match so we take the result," Rogoi assessed.
However, we have not lost hope yet, last year we beat Morocco but they are the ones who qualified. So the game is still on with any round-robin pool and we want to recover and prepare well. If we are able to go very big on Saturday then everything else will be okay,” an optimistic Rogoi remarked.
Kenya will have a rest day on Friday as Nigeria take on top seeds South Africa.
Kenya will need South Africa to inflict a huge defeat on Nigeria to stand any chance of securing promotion when they clash with the former on Saturday.