Okutoyi eases into W15 World Tennis Tour semis at Karen

Angella Okutoyi is through to the semi-finals of the W15 World Tennis Tour after stopping third-seed Emma Tothova from Slovakia in straight sets at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi on Friday.

Okutoyi, who is the only Kenyan left standing after her twin sister Roselida Asumwa was eliminated early on Friday by Sharmada Balu, floored Tothova 6-1, 6-4 on the clay courts in one hour and seven minutes.

The Wimbledon doubles junior champion registered five aces.

Wild card Asumwa went down fighting to sixth-seeded Balu 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6 in a grueling match that took three hours and 47 minutes.

Asumwa’s match finished at midday after it was postponed due to darkness Thursday evening. Balu won the first set 6-3 on Thursday, but Asumwa led 2-1 in the second set before the match was pushed to Friday.

On her way to the second round, Asumwa tossed out Australian Nessa Pratt 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. She had set a target of reaching the quarter-final or semi-final.

Okutoyi thrashed Sharanya Shetty (India) 6-0, 6-0 in the first round before adding Uzbekistan eighth-seed Sevil Yuldasheva to the list of the scalps she has taken.

Okutoyi, whose tennis idol is American great Serena Williams, will face second-seed Caroline Romeo from France in the semi-finals. Romeo defeated Celine Simunyu from Ireland 6-2, 6-3.

Also through to the semifinal is top-seed Emily Seibold from Germany who was made to sweat for the 7-6, 7-6 win against fifth-seed Alexandria Iordache from Romania.