Okutoyi eyeing French Open after Australia heroics

After her heroics in the Junior Grand Slam at the Australian Open, Kenya's tennis star Angella Okutoyi has laid her eyes on the French Open set for May this year.

Speaking after jetting back to the country on Saturday evening, Okutoyi who turned 18 years the same day said that he was focusing on the next assignment with the historic Australia Open behind her.

She further added that on top of featuring in all the major Grand Slams this year, she is also targeting a top 30 position in the ITF rankings.

Currently, she is ranked 53 in the world, moving up seven places from her initial ranking at the start of January before she featured in the Australia Open.

“Now that the Australian open fete is behind me, I am now focusing on the next assignment and that I hope will be the French Open because my 2022 goal was to hopefully play in all the major Grand Slams, get to at least the quarters and get to top 30 in the rankings and I still want that,” she was quoted by Nation Sports.

The Kenyan had a good run in the first two rounds, sailing through past Federica Urgesi and Zara Larke respectively but her fairytale at the Australian Open Junior Championship was brought to a disappointing end in the third round as she lost in straight sets to Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic on Wednesday morning.

Her win against Urgesi was historic as she became the first Kenyan girl to record a Junior Grand Slam match-win, and went on to double the number of wins in the subsequent round, being tossed out just one match away from the quarters.

She was delighted at making it to the third round, terming herself lucky for the support she received.

“I am so lucky to have the kind of support I have had so far that it got me to the Australian Open and helped me aim even higher. Getting to the third round of such a high-level tournament is tough but I’m glad I achieved that to show other African players, especially girls that nothing is impossible," she added.