Top seeds Riziki, Cheruto advance at Kenya Open
Ester Nankulange plays a forehand shot to Roselinda Asumwa during their SGA Kenya Junior Open Under-16 quarter-final match on December 19,2017 at Nairobi Club. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- Very few matches were completed due to the heavy downpour.
- In the upset of the tourney, top seed in the girls’ under 16 Roselida Asumwa of Kenya was eliminated at the quarterfinal stage.
- The home player lost to the unseeded Ester Nankulange 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in their last eight meeting. Asumwa, who took part in last week’s Karen Open, paid the price of complacency and was dully punished by her less fancied opponent.
Top seeds Raymond Rizki and Cynthia Cheruto on Tuesday booked their places in the last four of the ongoing SGA Kenya Junior Open Tennis Championship at the Nairobi Club.
Very few matches were completed due to the heavy downpour.
In the matches that were completed, Kenya’s Riziki downed seventh seed and compatriot Jacob Njunge 6-2, 6-2 in the under 12 boys’ quarterfinal match. Riziki wasted no time in underlining his intentions of going all the way as he took a 3-0 lead in the opening set.
His powerful right hand serve was too much for Njunge who was forced to play second fiddle for the rest of the opening set. Njunge did however manage to win two games but was again on the back foot as the top seed outclassed him especially on the net exchanges.
It was the same scenario in the second set as Riziki once more showed his prowess with some nice serving, while his opponent at the other end of the net made a number of unforced errors and timidly gave in as Riziki won in 56 minutes.
“I was particularly impressed with my serving which proved to be a handful to him and I am hoping it will carry me through for the remainder of the competition,” Riziki told Nation Sport.
In another under 12 boys’ last eight encounter, second seed Brian Matekwa cruised past 11th seed Billy Omboga to seal his place in the last four.
Top seed Cheruto, who has not yet dropped a game since the tournet started on Sunday, kept up her good form as she overcame fifth seed Nasha Jafer of Gabon 6-0, 6-0 in their girls’ under 12 quarterfinal encounter
The Kenyan barely broke sweat as she won the opening set in under 27 minutes before completing the match 23 minutes later to stay on course for the title.
“It was largely one-way traffic but I know it will get tough in the latter stages and I am up to the challenge,” a confident Cheruto said.
In the upset of the tourney, top seed in the girls’ under 16 Roselida Asumwa of Kenya was eliminated at the quarterfinal stage.
The home player lost to the unseeded Ester Nankulange 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in their last eight meeting. Asumwa, who took part in last week’s Karen Open, paid the price of complacency and was dully punished by her less fancied opponent.
Top seed in the boys’ under 16 category, Derrick Ominde stayed on course to reach the final after he defeated Maxwell Kombe 6-2, 6-1 in their quarterfinal match.
