Kenyan players in the ongoing Harambee International Junior Tour (ITF World Tennis Tour) Championship suffered setbacks with multiple losses (Round 32) on Tuesday during Day 3 of the competition being held at the Nairobi Club.
In the opening Boys Singles game of the day played at Centre Court, home player Sahib Singh Chana fell in straight sets of 6-2/6-1 to Indian 11th-seeded Debreshi Ken. The match that took under 45 minutes was a difficult one for the Kenyan who picked only three games overall.
Chana’s service game was not effective and his unchecked defence left him most vulnerable, especially at the net. This even as his opponent enjoyed a cruise with very minimal errors on his part with his biggest weapon being his first serve conversion and returns as well near his net.
In another duel, Kenya’s seventh seed Raymond Oduor put up a spirited fight against British opponent Rafael Kiss in a 3-6/6-3/1-6 result.
Oduor started off shakily but picked up momentum in the latter stages of the opening set. He recovered well in the second setter where he clawed his way back with a set and two games down to engineer a super-charge. His running was better and he controlled serve for most of the part.
Meanwhile, another Indian player in the shape of Om Verma saw off another Kenyan player Baraka Ominde in another titanic Boys Singles battle, a mid-morning thriller. The result went 2-6/6-4/4-6 to the Asian starlet who was more aggressive with his attack and was more fluid with returns as compared to the Kenyan.
Verma took charge of proceedings despite some minor errors in the opening set before Ominde evened the tie at 1-1 leaving the match to go to a decider.
Verma proved too strong afterward and fended off any lurking danger as he forced the Kenyan to make errors.
Elsewhere, Ayush Bhandari of Kenya also stuttered in a 0-6/2-6 straight sets loss to Italian opponents Cesare Garrano in a game that was played under an hour. Bhandari was out of sorts and his serve was particularly wanting thus incurring a host of double-faults.
His challenger on the other side of the net seemed more committed and calm in equal measure.
The second set was also a cruise for the European who only dropped two games but closed it out in style.
