Kenya secures another key win as Nigeria falls

Team Kenya’s quest for promotion to the Africa – Group Two (Billie Jean King Cup), earned a boost after another flawless win (3-0) over Namibia, yesterday, at the Nairobi Club Courts as they plot another downfall today against Nigeria.

Once again, Angela Okutoyi and Cynthia Wanjala stole the show with their straight sets sweet wins over their challengers to push Kenya to the top of the table with an 11-1 record as the fourth day came to a close. Kenya now rules the roost in Pool A after 12 matches to the joy of the home fans.

Nigeria dropped to second position following a shock 3-0 loss against resurgent Morocco who had lost their initial clash against Kenya 1-2.

“I relied a lot on my second serve and thankfully it worked. I decided to focus on my opponent’s backhand a lot because I felt I could exploit that area a little more. I’m focusing on building on my momentum and taking each match seriously,” stated Okutoyi.

In the opening tie that lasted only 52 minutes, the tennis sensational Angella Okutoyi displayed her prowess for the umpteenth time with a comfortable 6-1/6-0 demolition of Liniques Theron at Centre Court. Okutoyi used her familiarity with the court to dazzle her challenger with some sublime shots.

Her service game was on point and her awareness plus movement in her territory helped her a great deal as she completely destroyed the opponent.

Losing only one game in the opening set seemed to pump her up big-time as she went on a rampage racking up points and forcing her opponent to make numerous forced errors. Theron seemed dazed but also frustrated as she was being tossed around by the 19-year-old University of Alabama-based World No. 49. Namibia overall had bad shots and her decision-making on the net also caused her gravely.

In the second match for Team Kenya’s ladies, Cynthia Wanjala successfully maintained her 100 per cent singles record in this year’s tournament after downing Lisa Lia Yssel in straight sets of 6-4/6-2 to give Kenya a solid 2-0 lead.

Wanjala took a cue from her counterpart and team leader Okutoyi in her aggressive approach. It was a bit of a seesaw affair in the opening set with Wanjala having to dig deep to survive any threats from the enterprising Yssel.

However, with scores at 5-4, the Kenyan player held serve to cruise through much to the relief of his bench.

Wanjala came alive in the second set after a short pep-talk during the break – to have the Namibian challenger neutralized. To this end, the Kenyan starlet had to be more shrewd in her play but go all out while on serve with good ground coverage also helping her cause. Yssel only managed two games as Wanjala opened up the gap.

In the doubles front, Kenya’s Roselida Asumwa alongside Melissa Mwakha once again did justice in their match after seeing off the pair of Joanivia Bezuidenhout and Leandre Nabia Louw 6-1/6-3. Mwakha and Asumwa had great awareness and communication on the court once again as they silenced the Namibians. The first set seemed quite fluid for the Kenyans but the second set was a different ball game altogether. Namibia pushed hard threatening to force the game to a decider but the home team urged on by their fans went innovative and had to be precise with their play.