Kenya’s top seed Cheruiyot floors Tunisian rival

Kenyan top seed Kevin Cheruiyot returns a serve against Razvan Baiant of Canada in the ITF Under-18 East Africa Junior circuit match at Nairobi Club on January 21, 2016. Cheruiyot, who was the sole remaining player in the event was defeated in the boys’ doubles quarterfinals alongside his partner Bertus Kruger of South Africa. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

What you need to know:

  • The Kenyan sailed into today’s second round event after a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 over home player Amine Ben Jemia in the boys’ singles first round.
  • Cheruiyot will on Thursday take on 15th seed Max Stewart of Great Britain as he bids to reach the third round of the international event.
  • Jemia had defeated another Kenyan Sheil Kotecha 7-6(3), 6-3 in the qualifying rounds before his run in the competition was ended by the Kenyan top seed.
  • He completed a remarkable day after he teamed up with Ethiopia’s Antoine Gbadoe in the first round boys’ doubles event to record another victory.

Kenya’s top seeded junior tennis player Kevin Cheruiyot on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the Grade 2 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior event in Tunisia.

The Kenyan sailed into today’s second round event after a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 over home player Amine Ben Jemia in the boys’ singles first round.

Cheruiyot will on Thursday take on 15th seed Max Stewart of Great Britain as he bids to reach the third round of the international event.

Jemia had defeated another Kenyan Sheil Kotecha 7-6(3), 6-3 in the qualifying rounds before his run in the competition was ended by the Kenyan top seed.

“This tournament will help me improve my game. I want to take the good start into the next round and go as far as I can,” Cheruiyot told Daily Nation Sport on Wednesday on phone from Tunisia.

He was dominant from the first set which lasted 30 minutes as the Kenyan overpowered his opponent with 20 match winners and four aces to take control early on.

However, the Tunisian returned stronger in the second set aided by Cheruiyot’s unforced errors which allowed Jemia to take the encounter into a third set.

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Cheruiyot returned stronger in the third set wining in 20 minutes without losing a single match as Jemia failed to deal with the Kenyan’s double-backhand.

Cheruiyot, who tuned 18 last week, is confident of a good outing in the competition as he seeks to improve on his ranking.

He completed a remarkable day after he teamed up with Ethiopia’s Antoine Gbadoe in the first round boys’ doubles event to record another victory.

The East Africans beat Sweden’s Casper Kogel and Ukraine’s Oleksii Markovsyki 6-3, 7-5 to sail into the second round of the competition.

The duo will on Thursday take on Youssef Hossam of Egypt and Great Britain’s Alexis Canter for a place in the next round.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s Olivier Kigotho and Albert Njogu beat Ryan Randiek of Kenya and Morocco’s Elyes Marouani 7-6(7) 6-4 in the ITF 18 and under event boys’ second round event.

The duo are the remaining home players in the international event which is in third and final leg.

All other Kenyans were eliminated in the qualifying and first rounds in another disappointing week for the country.