Kenya's Shufaa Changawa storms quarterfinals of Africa Nations Tennis Championship

Kenya's Shufaa Changawa plays a forehand shot to Adomon Marie Ange of Ivory Coast during their Africa Nations Tennis Championship women's singles first round match on November 8, 2016 at Nairobi Club. Shufaa won 6-2,6-1. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |

What you need to know:

  • Kenya’s Shufaa Changawa is the sole women’s player left in the Africa Nations Tennis Championship after advancing to the quarterfinals at the Nairobi Club.
  • Shufaa, who is seeded sixth in the continental event, saw off Adomon Marie Angie Sia of Ivory Coast 6-2, 6-1 in a women’s’ singles first round match on Tuesday.
  • The Kenya Open women’s champion will on Wednesday take on top seed Chiraz Bechri of Tunisia in a last eight clash.

Kenya’s Shufaa Changawa is the sole women’s player left in the Africa Nations Tennis Championship after advancing to the quarterfinals at the Nairobi Club.

Shufaa, who is seeded sixth in the continental event, saw off Adomon Marie Angie Sia of Ivory Coast 6-2, 6-1 in a women’s’ singles first round match on Tuesday.

The Kenya Open women’s champion will on Wednesday take on top seed Chiraz Bechri of Tunisia in a last eight clash. The North African saw off Mozambique’s Marieta Ntamitambo 6-1, 6-0 in their first round clash.

“I was a bit nervous in the start but I managed to calm down and settled well. I want to go as far as possible in this competition and help the country win the overall title, “Shufaa told Daily Nation Sport.

“I will work on my forehand which was not efficient today and hopefully come back stronger in the next round.”

The Kenyan went down 2-0 in the opening set as her opponent capitalised on her weak forehand but Shufaa recovered to take the next five matches and served off the first set brilliantly after hitting 24 aces.

Shufaa was dominant in the second set with her opponent only winning match, going on a five match winning streak before closing out the set with a brilliant backhand. It was however despair for the other Kenyan ladies as they all succumbed to losses.

Faith Nyabera went down 0-6, 2-6 to second seed Rita Atik of Morocco while Paige Mbugua was handed a straight set loss of 1-6, 1-6 by Morocco’s Lilya Hadab, who is seeded fifth in the tourney.

“I made a lot of mistakes and my opponent took advantage of them. She has played in more international competitions and that helped her a lot,” Mbugua said.

In the men’s draw, Shufaa’s elder brother, Ismael Changawa and Sheil Kotecha also sailed to the last eight of the competition. Ismael overcame Republic of Congo’s Ivan Mamamta in their second round match while Kotecha beat Christian Saidi of Democratic Republic of Congo 6-0, 6-2.

Ismael takes on top seed Amine Ahouda of Morocco in Wednesday’s quarterfinals while Kotecha will be up against second seed Moez Echargui of Tunisia in another last eight encounter.

Kenya’s Kevin Cheruiyot and Petty Andanda both crashed out of the competition after losing their second round matches. Cheruiyot lost 3-6, 3-6 to Morocco’s Yassine Idmbarek while Andanda was beaten 4-6, 1-6 by fourth seed Denis Indondo of DRC.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s Ryan Randiek and Sneha Kotecha will be in action on Wednesday at the Public Service Club where the CAT Under- 14 masters event begins.

The event brings together the top eight ranked boys and girls from across the continent.