Kenyans Zayyan Virani and Jeff Okuku maintained perfect starts as the main draw of the J30 Nairobi ITF East Africa Junior Circuit entered its second day on the clay courts of the Nairobi Club on Wednesday.

Okuku continued his impressive run at a venue where he recently lifted both the under-16 individual and team titles at the Eastern Africa Championships. The Kenyan battled past Ireland’s Cillian Ndilima in a tense Group C encounter, winning 6-7(7), 6-4, 10-8. The victory followed his opening-day win over Spain’s Pablo Salazar, whom he defeated 6-2, 4-6, 10-8, giving Okuku two wins from two matches and putting him in a strong position to top his pool.

Virani, based in Spain and seeded second in the tournament, was equally commanding. Virani, who won J30 Nairobi last year, brushed aside Serbia’s Andrija Dragicevic 6-3, 6-2 in Group B. The victory came a day after Virani recovered from a slow start to defeat a Ugandan opponent 4-6, 6-2, 10-2, underlining his status as one of the tournament favourites.

The Nairobi event is being played under a newly introduced International Tennis Federation (ITF) format that is currently being piloted. Under the revised system, the 32-player main draw is divided into eight pools of four players each, with only the top player from each pool advancing to the quarter-finals. The qualifying rounds remain unchanged.

While it was back-to-back wins for Okuku and Virani, things were tough on other Kenyan players on day two. Aum Chandaria fell to top seed Gyeom Do of South Korea, losing 6-0, 6-2, while Sabwe Kalulu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the seventh seed, beat Evans Mundia 6-3, 6-4.

in girls' matches, Egypt’s top seed Noureldine overcame Paula Ouko 6-2, 6-3, and Zimbabwe’s fifth seed Kuzivaishe Chapepa edged Felicia Ouko 6-7(7), 6-2, 10-7, American Bi-Neb Awatang defeated seventh seed Seline Ahoya 6-2, 4-6, 10-6, while Japan’s Mio Suzuki beat Hadassah Msine 6-2, 6-0. Zimbabwean second seed Chanelle Zhuwakini dominated Tumelo Kimunya 6-0, 6-0, and Mbongta Awatang of the USA overcame Azaliyah Kavuisya 6-1, 6-1. Ashley Wafula lost 6-2, 6-0 to Ksenia Novikova, while Bathsheba suffered consecutive defeats to Sofia Drenova and Sofia Shcherbatskaia.

As pool play continues, all eyes remain on Virani and Okuku, who are closing in on quarter-final berths with composed and confident performances.