This is not the first time that the world of sport has seen an intertwining between Italy and Kenya. It has happened in the past in women's volleyball, where the Italian team qualified by beating the Kenyan national team, and in athletics, when at the athletics championships in Nairobi in the same race the Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala set the continental record and his Italian colleague Filippo Tortù the best Italian time of the millennium, second only to Pietro Mennea's legendary 19.72 in Mexico City in 1979.
In this case we are talking about very young promises of world tennis and an incredible feat for the Kenyan racket: the sixteen year old Angella Okutoyi is the first Kenyan tennis player ever to pass a round of a Grand Slam tournament (even if junior) and she made her nation exult by winning a match against... an Italian tennis player! Her peer Federica Urgesi, from Fano in the Marche region, arrived in Melbourne with great expectations, but had to bow to her African opponent in three sets: 6-4 6-7 6-3 for Okutoyi.
The girl is no stranger to results that have made the Kenyan racket cry baby prodigy: last November, she won the Africa Junior Tennis Championship and reached the final of an important continental tournament in Burundi, in addition to having cups from many Under 14 continental tournaments, from Rwanda to Algeria.
But the Grand Slam is something else.
"To be able to participate in such a championship is a dream come true - Angella had said before the match against the Italian - it's a great experience, because it happens at most once a year. I'm very happy and proud to be where I am".
With this affirmation that will hopefully be followed by the next round, the young and promising tennis player from Nairobi should be able to improve her International Junior Tennis Federation ranking, which sees her in 60th place in this tournament.
"My goal is to do everything I can to reach the quarterfinals," admitted the girl. Certainly Federica Urgesi would not have wanted to give way to her, but since that's how it went, she like all of us will be cheering for her Kenyan colleague.