Okutoyi succumbs to Round 2 exit in W25 tourney in Nairobi

13th December 2023

The Kenyan ace lost in straight sets to China's 34-year-old Jia-Jing Lu.

Angella Okutoyi. PHOTO| Tennis Kenya
Angella Okutoyi. PHOTO| Tennis Kenya
SUMMARY
  • Jia-Jing Lu won 4-6, 4-6 to knock out the 19-year-old.
  • Okutoyi was the only Kenyan to make it to the second round.
  • Okutoyi progressed to the second round after a hard fought first round win on Tuesday.

Kenya’s remaining representative in the inaugural W25 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament ongoing at the Karen Country Club Angella Okutoyi saw her journey ended just before the quarterfinals after losing on Wednesday afternoon.

Squared up against China’s experienced Jia-Jing Lu, the 19-year-old ace was knocked out of the tournament following a straight set 4-6, 4-6 loss against the 34-year-old right hander who massively benefitted from Okutoyi’s numerous unforced errors.

Lu raced to a quick 1-3 lead after breaking Okutoyi’s serve in the fourth game where the Kenyan made three double faults to hand a cheap advantage to her Chinese opponent.

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Okutoyi, however, recovered when she broke back in the ninth game with Lu serving for the set to make it 4-5.

However, Lu used the first of two break points in the following game to break once again as she took the first set 4-6.

Having dropped the opening set, Okutoyi got her elbows out as she started the second set on a high, breaking Lu’s serve in the opening game to race before holding serve to race to a 2-0 lead.

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Unforced errors would come to haunt Okutoyi once again as she threw away her advantage in the fourth game when she double faulted on break point to allow Lu to tie the game back at 2-2.

Okutoyi immediately broke back but she failed to hold the advantage as the game went to 3-3.

The swing in serve breaking took a pause as Lu finally held serve for the first time in the match for 43-4 before service resumed over the next two games.

She broke Okutoyi to go 3-5 but serving for the match proved to be a tough hurdle as Okutoyi immediately broke back.

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The Kenyan however failed to force the game at least to a tiebreaker as she was broken immediately as Lu sealed 4-6, 4-6.

“I feel disappointed and not excited for sure. But at least today I tried to start the points early and not to give a lot of errors but things did not go my way as she was too aggressive while I tried to come back.

I needed to stay on top of the games and try to hold my serve which did not work a lot of times,” Okutoyi remarked after the game.

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