Nairobi — African Games champion Angella Okutoyi has saluted Kenyan fans for their unwavering support on Day Three of the Billie Jean King Cup at the Nairobi Club.
Okutoyi had to pull out all the stops to overpower Burundian Saada Nahimana in an end-to-end encounter that ended 6-3 6-4 in her favour.
"It felt nice having the crowd with us...motivating Team Kenya. It really feels nice just having people around you who want you to do good...even you media people, I could hear you people cheering. It was really nice...just happy to have everyone around us," the 2022 Wimbledon Open doubles junior champion said.
It was a nerve-racking encounter in which the Burundian top player gave as much as she received amid the oscillating weather patterns of scorching hot or calming cold.
Having lost the first set, Nahimana came back revitalised in the second one -- her powerful serves proving problematic at times for Okutoyi.
She raced into a 2-1 lead but the indefatigable home girl rallied to overturn the score to 5-3 in her favour.
However, Nahimana had one more trick up her sleeve, threatening a comeback at 5-4 but Okutoyi eventually excelled to give Kenya a 2-0 lead on the day.
Reflecting on the encounter, Okutoyi admitted it has indeed lived up to her expectations.
"I was mentally prepared for the match...I knew that it was going to be tough because Saada is a very good player. On the court, I was just trying to be myself and to play my game and not think too much about what she was going to do," she said.
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Okutoyi added: "She likes to slice a lot so I'd say maybe today I picked a few lessons on how to play against someone who slices because I rarely play against such players."
Setting the pace
Kenya were off to a brilliant start to what was to decide the winners of Group B -- both countries having won two ties each.
Cynthia Cheruto was dominant over Hoziane Kitambala, winning 6-4 6-1 in the morning before Okutoyi took to the court.
Even though Stacey Yego and Roselinda Asumwa lost 3-6 7-5 7-10 to Nahimana and Kitambala in the doubles, the job had already been done -- in stark contrast to last year's edition when Kenya lost 2-1 to Nigeria in their final group match.
Taking stock of their performance thus far, Okutoyi believes Team Kenya have developed nerves of steel.
"Mentally, we are ready. We have been working really hard and we trust in what we have been doing. This year, I also feel we have played a lot of matches just to improve our tennis and that has played a big role in our game. Maybe that's why we are playing really well this year," she said.
Kenya now wait to know their opponents in the playoffs, which may either be Nigeria or top seed South Africa.
