体坛英语新闻：Kenya's top tennis player Okutoyi to compete at Tunisia Masters

NAIROBI, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Open senior women's champion Angela Okutoyi will face stiff test as she makes her debut at the Tunisia Masters, which will be held in Monastir City on Oct. 1-7.

The teenage champion became the youngest winner at Kenya's premier tennis competition last week when she won the Kenya Open.

"It was a good preparation for the masters when I won the Kenya Open. It has given me confidence that I can go to bigger and better tournaments in the future," said Okutoyi Wednesday.

The North Africa competition will be one of the many on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) women circuit.

Okutoyi will be using the tournament in Tunisia as part of her preparations ahead of next year's Davis Cup.

Organizers of the Davis Cup will pit 12 seeded nations against 12 unseeded nations as 24 teams discover their opponents for the 2019 qualifiers, taking place in Feb. 1-2.

The 12 successful nations in February will join Croatia, France, Spain and USA plus two wild card nominees, who secured their places in the 2019 Davis Cup finals. The wild card nominees are Argentina and Britain.

If a nation is awarded a wild card, their place in the qualifiers will be taken by the next-highest ranked nation.

If a seeded nation is given a wild card, the next-highest ranked nation will be seeded in the 2019 qualifiers.