Teen star Okutoyi bows out of French Open with her head held up
Kenyan tennis sensation Angela Okutoyi yesterday bowed out of the French Open Juniors Championships Girls Singles with pride after losing in straight sets of 6-2/6-4 to 16-year old World No.330 Petra Marcinko of Croatia.
Okutoyi, who was competing on only her second slam after taking part in the Australian Open earlier in the year, had on Sunday won against Belgian opponent Amelie Van Impe 7-6,6-4 in the Round of 64, to become the first Kenyan to ever win a match in the competition.
She had a more difficult outing yesterday, with a few errors including five double faults. However, her first serve conversion set at 68 per cent was great hitting 39 off 57 balls while her win on the second serve was 50 per cent successful, burying in 9 of 18 balls. Okutoyi also won 67 per cent break points and 38 per cent of receiving points.
Petra on her part managed 74 per cent on first serve success and only two double faults the entire match. She also had 51 per cent of receiving points success with her first serve success accounting for 67 per cent.
Difficult start
“It was a tough match but I am delighted to have won. The opponent was not that easy but I knew she was beatable,” Angela was quoted in a sections of the media after the Sunday win.
The continental junior champion endured a difficult start to the match, trailing the Belgian 3-1 before bouncing back to level.
At the tie break, Okutoyi found herself two set points down again, but her rallying power and belief pulled her to win 8-6.
She was more confident in the second set where she won 4-6 to book a place in the second round where she will face off with Croatian Petra Marcinko who won by straight sets against Canadian Kayla Cross (6-1, 6-4).
“I focused more on what I could do myself and just being me and that’s how I managed to rally back. In the second set I tried to be on the lead always and also tried to break her,” she said.
She added: “And I was also trying to be ore focused on the game rather than outside.
There was a lot of crowd and they were against me but it was good. I know the second round will be tough want to go in with a tough mindset and focus more on myself rather than her and I hope for the best. I know I can do this.”
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal set up a French Open quarter-final against long-time rival Novak Djokovic with an absorbing five-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Spain’s Nadal, 35, dropped sets for the first time at this year’s event but recovered to win 3-6 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3.
Top seed Djokovic produced his best level so far in the tournament to beat 15th seed Diego Schwartman 6-1 6-3 6-3.
Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev will also meet in the last eight after each claimed straight-set victories.
Sixth seed Alcaraz, 19, sublimely swept aside Karen Khachanov 6-1 6-4 6-4 while third seed Zverev triumphed 7-6 (13-11) 7-5 6-3 despite a patchy performance against qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
The biggest draw of the next round though will be Nadal and Djokovic meeting for a men’s record 59th time.
Fifth seed Nadal fixed up the encounter by beating ninth seed Auger-Aliassime for his 109th win in 112 matches at the French Open.
The 13-time champion looked in serious danger of suffering his earliest exit at Roland Garros since 2009 when 21-year-old Auger-Aliassime showed quality and composure to force a fifth set on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It was only the third time Nadal had been taken to a decider on the Paris clay.
In front of a captivated crowd, Nadal demonstrated yet again why he is so special on the court where he has enjoyed the greatest successes of his career.
Nadal found an extra level when it mattered and used all of his experience to maintain clarity of thought in the decisive moments.
At 4-3 in the decider, he stretched to knock a forehand winner down the line for two break points and converted the second by scampering forward to push in a backhand.
As he prepared to serve for the win, Nadal’s name was chanted around Chatrier and he clinched victory - after almost four and a half hours - on his first match point with some deft touches at the net.
“It was a very important victory for me without a doubt,” said Nadal, who has never lost before the fourth round at Roland Garros.
“I didn’t start the match well, I had a lot of opportunities to break but I couldn’t convert. After coming back in the next two, I finished the third much better.
“I’m very happy with the attitude at the end because I was able to play more aggressive and go more to the net. That made a difference without a doubt.”
An interesting subplot to the match was the presence of Nadal’s uncle Toni, who now coaches Auger-Aliassime.
