Okutoyi leaps to career-best standings in latest world rankings
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 21.01.26. | 18:51
The 21-year-old is on-course to qualifying for her first Olympic Games in 2028
Kenyan tennis sensation Angella Okutoyi has marked a new milestone in her career after registering career-high positions in the Women’s Tennis Association singles and doubles rankings.
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Okutoyi, as per the latest WTA rankings released on Monday, 19 January, has jumped a whopping 62 places to rank world number 414 in the singles, and gone up 26 places in the doubles to rank 223rd in the world.
Both positions are Okutoyi’s best in her budding career, and come two weeks after she bagged four titles at two home International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour Nairobi W35 tournaments, held at Parklands Sports Club.
Then, Okutoyi breezed through the two clay court legs to win all singles and doubles trophies on offer.
The 21-year-old beat Italy’s Martina Colmegna in two singles finals, and partnered up with Netherlands’ Demi Tran and Poland’s Zuzanna Pawlikowska either side of the legs to win an additional two doubles titles.
Those performances pushed Okutoyi up 82 places to world number 476 in the singles, and took her to position 249 in the doubles.
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“I am super grateful for this milestone,” Okutoyi, a student at Auburn University, reacted to the rankings on Wednesday. “Looking forward to get to top 300 soon. Thank you for the support as always.”
The development comes as delightful news for the 2024 African Games singles gold medalist, in her ongoing quest to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
Okutoyi, who narrowly missed out on the Paris Games two years ago, needs to be in the top 400 positions in the singles to book her place at her first Olympics.
The Kenyan, now the fifth-highest-ranked African woman in singles, is among a special group of athletes who are benefitting from Olympic solidarity scholarships handed out by the Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) earlier this month.
