Okutoyi stuns Yuldasheva to storm W15 Nairobi quarters

Angella Okutoyi

Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi plays a forehand against Uzbekistan’s Sevil Yuldasheva during their ITF World W15 match on November 17, 2022 at Karen Country Club.


Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The Wimbledon doubles junior champion, who has set the target of winning the tournament, saw off her highly-ranked opponent in one hour and 37 minutes.

Kenya's tennis sensation Angella Okutoyi is through to the quarter-finals of the W15 Nairobi World Tennis Tour after stunning eighth-seeded Sevil Yuldasheva from Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4 on the clay courts at Karen Country Club in Nairobi on Thursday.

The Wimbledon doubles junior champion, who has set the target of winning the tournament, saw off her highly-ranked opponent in one hour and 37 minutes.

The victory moves her another step closer to her first ever W15 title after registering some early exits in the same level of tournament in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), Marrakech (Morocco) and Monastir (Tunisia) this year.

Okutoyi, who heads to the USA in January 2023 to join Auburn University on a full scholarship, has a career-high of 1501 in WTA rankings.

She stunned Yuldasheva, whose current ranking on WTA is 1156, with a career-high of 847.

The 18-year-old, who had an ace against Yuldasheva, 20, was strong with her serves, winning 80 percent of service games against her opponent’s 60 percent.

Her twin sister Roselida Asumwa will play sixth-seeded Sharmada Balu from India later Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.