Nairobi — Wimbledon Open doubles junior champion Angella Okutoyi credited their doubles match win over Morocco to her teammate Cynthia Cheruto who was her partner for the day.
The duo edged the Moroccan pair of Aya El Aouni and Yasmine Kabbaj 6-4, 7-5 to give Kenya a 2-1 overall win over the North Africans following Alicia Owegi's loss to Aouni in an earlier match and Okutoyi victory over Malak El Allami in another encounter.
Okutoyi and Cheruto seemed down and out in the second set, trailing 4-1 before an epic comeback to eventually excel 7-5 on home soil.
"I was a bit nervous from the beginning because Morocco is such a good team. Before the tournament we were asked which team would be our biggest competitor and we mentioned Morocco because they are such a great team. We are happy that we won 2-1 and I am also happy that I got to play with Cynthia in the doubles...it was the greatest doubles match I've played this year," Okutoyi said.
The teenager put Kenya on the map last year when she made history by winning the Wimbledon Open doubles junior title, combining forces with Dutchwoman Rose Marie Nijkamp to beat Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 in July.
Having joined forces with Cheruto for another doubles win in her career, Okutoyi lauded the Mbagathi Road Secondary School for inspiring her during the heated match on Monday afternoon.
The praises notwithstanding, Cheruto also admitted she was tense before the game but had grown in it as the match progressed.
"Before I got into the match, my heart was beating really fast and I was quite tense. I was scared of playing. But as the game progressed and we got one game, I was ready to play. When the game became deadlocked, things were a bit tough for me and at one point my hands couldn't move well. I was wondering what my teammates were going to say," she said.
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Kenya will next play Botswana on Tuesday and coach Francis Rogoi admits his charges have been boosted by the win against the African giants.
"For any tennis competition, Day One is often the most difficult day. It was a busy day but the girls managed to pull through. The good thing with the team here is the girls do not take any team as a big team," Rogoi said.
In other Group A encounters, Botswana beat Namibia 2-1 as Nigeria whitewashed Uganda 3-0.
In Group B, Mauritius beat Burundi 3-0 as Zimbabwe thrashed Ghana with the same scoreline.
Another North African giant Tunisia beat Seychelles 3-0 in the third Group B match-up.
