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Two siblings had totally different outings Friday during the semi-finals of the 2023 Kenya Open Championships being held at Nairobi Club.

Angela Okutoyi,19, was on sensational form with a 6-2/6-0 victory over Alicia Kinda-Owegi in the Women’s singles duel. The former Kenya Open Champion seeking a second stab took under an hour and so far is the only player in the Ladies’ draw who is yet to drop a set.

Okutoyi vs Owegi

Against Owegi, Okutoyi played aggressively towards the net leaving her opponent with little chance to manoeuvre despite the fact that the tournament top seed only dropped two games in the entire match.

In the other Singles semis on the Ladies’ draw,Roselida Asumwa was not as lucky as she fell to Tanzanian third seed Shana Mao in straight sets of 6-1/6-4.

Asumwa who is the second seed missed a glorious opportunity to meet her kin Okutoyi in the finals but could do precious little to keep away the venom spit by Mao.

The Tanzanian player who preferred to stay at the baseline used her running ability to catch balls and move freely on the court while Asumwa was often caught in the net.

Men singles

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Singles semis, top seed Albert Njogu is through to the Finals after seeing off Kennedy Ngolya in straight sets of 6-0/6-4. The 11th-seeded Ngolya had just 24 hours earlier caused an upset by seeing off fifth-seed Keean Shah in the quarter-finals.

Njogu played power and mind in the two sets with Ngolya struggling to muster a real challenge. The second set was tight with the 11th seed player coming back twice but failing to bury his chances afterwards.

His returns proved difficult while Njogu’s serves were pin-point and heavy. Njogu next faces fast-rising youngster Kael Shah in the weekend finale.

Shah,18, has dispatched big names along the way and in the semi-finals on Friday beat he Rwandese fourth-seed player Ernesto Habiyambere in straight sets of 6-2/6-0.

The teen second seed has shown consistency the entire week with his crisp and intelligent play. Against the Rwandan opponent, Kael who is based in Ohio State, USA brought his A-game dispatching any threats while at the same time while inviting his challenger to dangerous spots.

His serve and returns were sizzling. This will be the first Kenya Open finale for the young Kael who is keen to enter the tournament record as amongst the youngsters to win.