Okutoyi’s fairytale run ended at the Australian Open

After a spellbinding run from the round of 64 (R1), to the round of 32 (R2), Angella Okutoyi’s fairytale at the Australian Open Junior Championship was brought to a disappointing end in the round of 16 (R3) as she lost in straight sets to Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic in her match played on Wednesday morning.

Having bristled through her opponents in the first and second rounds, the Kenyan tennis sensation failed to find another gear in the third round as she went down 6-2, 6-3 against the Serb to crush out of her maiden appearance at a Grand Slam tournament.

If her start to the game was anything to go by, everything pointed to a difficult battle of what lay in store for the African U18 tennis champion.

After winning the toss to get things underway, Okutoyi immediately lost her serve as a charging Radivojevic made her statement of intent. Buoyed by the first two wins against Federica Urgesi and Zara Larke, Okutoyi immediately got the break back as she levelled things at 1-1.

The precedent had already been set though and Okutoyi’s serve was broken again twice, in her third and fourth service game, as Radivojevic closed out the first set 6-2.

As had been her Achilles heel in the first set, Okutoyi failed to hold her serves as she was broken in her opening two games as the Serb raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Despite managing to get one break back to take the scores to 4-2 for a moment, the writing was already on the wall as poor service would come to haunt the 17 year old as Radivojevic broke her for a third time to take the second set 6-3 and seal the 6,2, 6-3 win.

The African U18 champion exits the stage as the first Kenyan woman to reach the third round in singles of any event at a Grand Slam.

Australian Open Junior Championship Results

Round One

Angella Okutoyi 6-4, 6(5)-7, 6-3 Federica Urgesi

Round Two

Angella Okutoyi 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-1

Round Three

Angella Okutoyi 2-6, 3-6 Lola Radivojevic