Njogu, Ominde cruise to Kenya Open Junior quarters

Albert Njogu and Derrick Ominde advanced to the last eight berths of the ongoing Kenya Open Junior in the category of 18 and under after ruling in their showdowns.

Albert who showed catastrophic performance in the just concluded Karen Open after he was knocked out in the first round outfoxed Benson Osongo 6-1, 6-1.

The Mbagathi Secondary School student made some few mistakes in the first set that made Osongo capitalize on them but later reformed to find his groove.

Third placed in the tourney, Njogu made use of clinical drop balls, starving his opponent who was not able to get off the gates fastest.

Contrary to expectation, the showdown was not a walk in the park, but a tough duel that made Njogu sweat for his slot.

The 16 year-old Njogu, a trainee under Zion Zone Foundation won the title last year, and he is gunning to offer Kenyans an early Christmas by defending the title.

“I’m training day by day in a bid to defend my title. I realized some few mistakes I committed during the Karen Open tourney and it’s up to me to work on them,” he told Citizen Digital.

In another encounter, fifth seeded Derrick Ominde stormed to quarter finals following his 6-1, 6-1 wins over Kennedy Musembi.

Ominde who was also knocked out in the first round during the just concluded Karen Open Tennis Championships enjoyed his match as his opponent was poor in the serving session.

Ominde admitted that his rival made some few mistakes that he capitalized on.

“The game was nice. In the first set I tried to be consistent, but he made a lot of mistakes which I took advantage of. In the second set, I was good in drop balls while my opponent was poor,” he said.

Ominde won the 16 and under title last year and he is optimistic that he will retain it.

He’s also targeting to clinch the 18 and under title.

“My target is to clinch duo title, that is 18 and under and the 16 and under,” he added.

The quarter finals are slated for tomorrow while the finals will be played on Wednesday.