Top seed Changawa sails to round two of the Karen Open

Top seed Ismael Changawa stormed to the second round of the Karen Open Tennis Championship after edging out compatriot Kennedy Musembi 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of matches played Monday at the Karen County Club.

The defending champion who is now on course to retaining the title he won a year ago said despite the win he struggled in the match due to the nature of the playing surface.

“The court was not favourable for either of us since the ball could not bounce well. Furthermore, it was somehow slippery which forced me to change my shoes,” said Changawa.

Meanwhile, Duncan Mugabe of Uganda produced an outstanding performance to beat Denzel Seetson of Botswana 6-2, 7-5 in a match that Seetsol struggled with his serves thus gifting the Ugandan the points.

Rwanda’s Ernest Habiyambere got the better of home prodigy Ryan Randiek by two straight sets of 6-3, 6-3 with the former utilizing a lot of spaces left by Randiek who mostly retreated to defence in large spells of the match.

In the women’s category, Kenya’s Esther Wahome beat compatriot  Alice Mbithe 6-0,6-1 while Shania  Kaur trounced Kendi Kamunde 6-1, 6-0.