Okutoyi through to ITF tourney final in Tunisia

Last year’s Wimbledon Girls’ Doubles champion Angella Okutoyi is through to the final of the ITF W15 women singles tour event in Monastir, Tunisia.

The 19-year-old put up a spirited fight against India’s 24-year-old Zeel Desai, who has a career-high singles ranking of 549 by the WTA, achieved on 19 September 2022, to win the match by straight sets of 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) to book her final berth.

To reach to the semis, the unseeded Okutoyi had fought her way in the quarters with a 6-4, 6-0 straight sets victory over the top seed, Yasmin Mansouri in Thursday’s round of 16 before seeing off Italian Anastasia Abbagnato, the tournament’s fifth seed, in three sets of 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 on Friday afternoon's quarter-finals matchup.

Okutoyi has now booked a clash with 22-year-old Isabella Harvison who was on fire in the other semis beating Alexandra Iordache 6-3, 6-4 promising an exciting final against the Kenyan star on Sunday.

In an interesting turn of events, the finalists are unseeded - Okutoyi having seen of the third seed in the semis, while the American beat the eight seed in the competition, Romania’s Iordache.

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The Kenyan’s performance has improved since her singles run in the ITF Tunisia 30A was halted in the Round of 16 by Vlada Mincheva who emerged the winner in a three-set thriller.

Last week, the 2022 J1 Repentigny tournament doubles champion made it all the way to the ITF 31A quarter-finals, losing out to Italian Cristina Elena Tiglea in three sets of 6-1, 4-6, 2-6.

Her run this week began with a Round of 32 win over 18-year-old German Helena Buchwald 5-7, 2-6.

Her opponent in Sunday’s final has made 33 singles appearances this season, including 29 in the spring. She boasted a 20-9 overall record and team-leading 17-8 mark during dual action in the spring for Baylor University.