Kenyans struggle in second ITF event at Nairobi Club
By Barry Silah, July 9, 2021Barry Silah @obel_barry
It was another difficult week experienced by Kenyan players in the ongoing ITF Grade Five World Tennis Tour Championship at Nairobi Club with no player going beyond the semi-finals.
Only Kael Shah who is seeded third in the three-week tournament, initially had some good display but it was not enough as he was eliminated 6-3/5-7/6-2 by British player Virdee Oakley in a big contest in the Boys Singles played in the morning.
Shah had regrouped after losing the first set fighting will in the second to draw level. However, he made far too many mistakes which the opponent capitalised on.
Top seed Derrick Ominde on his part was eliminated in the quarter finals going down in straight sets of 6-4/6-2 to Germany opponent Bain Moreno.
The two players slugged it out on the court but Ominde was just powerless to get the better of his opponent.
The first set was evenly matched with Moreno coming from the back to pip Ominde who had built a gap.
In the second set, the German player was more aggressive and played more balls inside trying to make Ominde work extra hard, with the Kenyan only managing to pull out two games from Moreno.
In the Girls Singles, Alicia Owegi put her best foot forward despite her quarter finals loss to Belgian player Lopez Gonzalez in straight sets of 6-3/7-5.
Owego lost a bit of concentration in the opening set with a couple of unforced errors also costing her however in the following set,it was a real battle of wit. Owegi served well but Gonzales equally had solid returns especially down the baseline.
The Kenyan player ranked 1685 in the world almost forced a tie-break but that was not to be as Gonzalez closed out her last game magnificently with a power serve.
Meanwhile the Girls Doubles partnership of Roselida Asumwa and Cynthia Wanjala also fell to a German duo in the form of Mariella Gelbke and Mia Sophie Mueller in straight sets of 6-3/6-2 going out in the Quarterfinals as well.