Okutoyi suffers first round defeat in Texas amid career high WTA ranking

The last week of October has been a rather interesting one for Kenyan tennis star Angella Okutoyi in that while she ranked career best on the WTA Singles rankings, she also suffered defeat in the qualifying rounds of the W25 Dallas, TX 50A singles tournament in Dallas, Texas.

Okutoyi, entering her fourth competition since her impressive first pro title in the ITF singles championship in Monastir, Tunisia, suffered a three sets defeat to 22 year old Nicole Khirin of Israel in the first round of the qualifying draw, marking the end of her journey at the Tyler Athletic and Swim Club.

She was unseeded, and went out to the 16th seed in sets of 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6.

In her previous tournament, Okutoyi clinched a doubles silver in the ITF 15K in Jackson, Tennessee, where she partnered with her Auburn University Tigers teammate Adeline Flach.

The duo went past Alice Ferlito and Mara Schmidt 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round before defeating their teammates, Carolyn Ansari and Selin Ovunc, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the quarterfinal round.

They then defeated Kristina Novak and Lara Smejkal 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinal before falling in the finals to Chieh-Yu Hsu and Anita Sahdiiev in straight sets of 7-5, 6-3.

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On to the positive news of Okutoyi’s week however, the 19 year old recorded her highest ever rankings in the WTA Singles category, where she usurped her previous spot of 937 to 869.

The two time African and Kenyan champion had on 15 August this year broken inside the top 1000 list for her first time in her career when she ranked 928, before dropping to 937 before the finals run in Tennessee, where she also dropped out of the Round of 16 to Peru’s Lucciana Pérez Alarcón.

The Kenyan in August also defended her Kenya Open tennis title after recording a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory over Tanzania’s Shana Mao in the 2023 women’s Singles final played at the Nairobi Club.

She in October 2022 received a full-time scholarship to Auburn University in Alabama, USA, and is expected to feature in the team’s fall tournaments that conclude with the Auburn Invite at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in November.