Kenyan tennis star Angella Okutoyi settled for the silver medal at the W35 Verbier tournament in Switzerland on Sunday, a day after striking gold in the doubles competition alongside Tiphanie Lemaitre from France.
The UK-based 22-year-old Okutoyi, who is the African Games singles champion and doubles silver medallist, lost 6-4, 6-3 to Serbian qualifier Anastasija Cvetkovic in a one-hour, 55-minute singles final played on Okutoyi’s favourite clay surface.
Ranked 503rd in the WTA singles rankings, sixth-seeded Okutoyi showed flashes of her best tennis, but could not sustain the momentum against 920th-ranked Cvetkovic.
Okutoyi recovered from 1-3 down to lead 4-3 in the opening set, but Cvetkovic fought back to take it 6-4. Okutoyi led 1-0 and 2-1 in the second set, but again failed to build on the advantage, with the Serbian breaking her serve at match point to seal the victory.
Okutoyi had marched into the final after an impressive run that included victories over Indian qualifier Madhurima Sawant, whom she thrashed 6-1, 6-4, and Swiss wildcard Noelia Manta, whom she humbled 7-5, 6-4.
She then dispatched Valentini Grammatikopoulou from Greecr 6-2, 6-3 before producing her biggest win of the tournament against Swiss top seed Valentina Ryser, winning 6-7, 6-0, 7-6 in the semi-final.
Ryser fired seven aces against Okutoyi’s one in that semi-final.
Cvetkovic, meanwhile, booked her place in the final after overcoming Russia’s seventh seed Ekaterina Yashina 6-4, 7-6, Cyprus’ Olga Danilova 6-3, 6-2, Ukraine’s Valeriya Strakhova 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 and France’s eighth seed Emma Lene 6-4, 6-4.
The Serbian’s victory denied Okutoyi a singles title, with the winner earning USD4,860 while the runner-up received USD2,637.
Despite the singles disappointment, Okutoyi had already enjoyed a memorable week in Verbier after teaming up with Lemaitre to win the doubles title on Saturday.
The Kenyan-French combination swept aside Grammatikopoulou and Strakhova 6-4, 6-7, 10-5 in one hour and 43 minutes.
The victory earned Okutoyi and Lemaitre USD1,762, which was split equally, while the runners-up shared USD895.
Okutoyi’s doubles success also extended her remarkable unbeaten run on clay. Her last doubles loss on the surface came with Lemaitre at W35 Amstelveen in the Netherlands in June 2025.
Since then, Okutoyi has swept clay-court doubles titles at W50 Aschaffenburg, W35 Orlando, W35 Nairobi twice, W100H Aschaffenburg and now two back-to-back W35 Verbier tournaments.
Her latest triumph is also expected to improve her career-best doubles ranking of 207 in the world.
Okutoyi last won a singles title during the two W35 tournaments held in Nairobi in January this year.
She relocated to the UK in early July as she began her full professional career following four years at Auburn University in the United States, where she studied on a full tennis scholarship.
The Verbier run is also expected to propel her up the WTA singles rankings. Okutoyi had climbed 15 places to 503rd after reaching the quarter-finals at her first W35 Verbier tournament one week ago.
Her appearance in the second tournament’s final is expected to take her close to her career-high ranking of 414, achieved on January 19, 2026.
