Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi went down fighting 6-3, 6-2 to top seed Emily Seibold in the final of W15 Nairobi World Tennis Tour at Karen Country Club in Nairobi on Sunday.
The Wimbledon Doubles Junior champion, who was awarded a three-year membership at Karen Country Club in August this year, was mainly let down by hitting the ball on the net as the German capitalised.
The final attracted a sizeable turn out of fans among them National Olympic Committee of Kenya president Paul Tergat.
Enroute to the final, Okutoyi,18, defeated Indian qualifier Sharanya Shetty 6-0, 6-0, eighth-seeded Sevil Yuldasheva (Uzbekistan) 6-4, 6-4, and third-seed Emma Tothova from Slovakia 6-1, 6-4 and Romeo.
On her part, Seibold dumped out Israeli qualifier Adi Bitton 6-1, 6-4, Macedonian Magdalena Stoilkovska 6-2, 6-2, fifth-seed Alexandra Iordache from Romania 7-6, 7-6, and American Sabastiani Leon, who was seeded fourth, 6-2, 6-2 in that order.
Before the ongoing W15 Nairobi, Okutoyi had never gone past second round in eight W15 tournaments since her debut in Nairobi in August 2019.
Okutoyi, who has a career-high of 1501 in WTA Singles Rankings, will now shift her focus to the second W15 Nairobi tournament slated for November 22-28 at the same venue.
