Kotecha floors Nyangweso to claim ITF Junior Circuit title
What you need to know:
- Shah redeemed himself after partnering with Andreas Scott of South Africa to win the boys’ Doubles against the Kenyan pair of Bradley Onsongo and Samuel Urasa.
- In the girls’ match, Kotecha and Okutoyi overcame Tanzania’s Ester Nankulange and Kenya’s Vanessa Egessa.
- The second leg begins on Thursday.
Kenya on Wednesday claimed one of the singles titles on offer as the first leg of the Under 14 International Tennis Federation Confederation of Africa Tennis African Junior Circuit came to a close at the Nairobi Club.
Home player and top seed Sneha Kotecha beat compatriot Angela Okutoyi Nyangweso 6-2, 6-0 in the girls’ final.
However, it was a heartbreak for Kenya’s Kael Shah, who lost out 6-4, 6-4 to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Nkanku Mukeba in the boys’ final.
Kotecha was playing Okutoyi on the back of a loss to her in their last meeting at the Britam Kenya Open in June and was in a rich vein of form as she breezed through the first set, going 5-2 up before Okutoyi pulled a game back to try and launch an unlikely comeback.
The top seed however shut the door on Okutoyi, taking the opening set on her own serve. The second set was also one way traffic in favour of Kotecha who raced through without losing a single game to close out the match in 57 minutes.
“It was a great final and I think the good start helped a lot because I was able to dictate the pace of the match and also match her (Okutoyi) serves,” a delighted Kotecha said.
The boys’ singles final got underway at Public Service with Shah hoping to make it a Kenyan sweep for the titles against Mukeba.
The Central African player broke Shah’s serve in the fourth game to go up 3-1 before the Kenyan got going to reel off three straight games of his own to hold a 4-3 advantage.
Shah held two game points to put him into a 5-3 lead but fell short of the mark to see Mukeba bring himself back level. Two more games in the Congolese’s favour saw the first set go to the away player 6-4.
A 3-0 lead in the second set put Mukeba in the commanding seat but the younger Kenyan opponent came back to level at 3-3. It was however not meant to be for Shah, as he couldn’t convert game points in his favour and went on to lose 6-4 in the second set.
The Kenyan however redeemed himself after partnering with Andreas Scott of South Africa to win the boys’ Doubles against the Kenyan pair of Bradley Onsongo and Samuel Urasa.
In the girls’ match, Kotecha and Okutoyi overcame Tanzania’s Ester Nankulange and Kenya’s Vanessa Egessa. The second leg begins on Thursday.
