Eighth seed Dineshkanthan Thangaraja walked away with the Sri Lanka Clay Court Nationals 2018 men’s singles title beating top seed Sanka Athukorala comfortably in straight sets 6/3, 6/1 when the two top favourites for the crown battled it out in the final at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts yesterday.
Both Dineshkanthan and Sanka entered the final with a superb undefeated record in the tournament and the final was tipped to be a close contest between the two strong players. But the final did not deliver the expected excitement as Dineshkanthan sailed to an easy clean sweep win downing the much fancied top seed.
Dineshkanthan beat Liu-Hui Retallick 7/6(6), 4/6, 6/1 and Sanka had the better of Delwar Hossain 6/3, 6/1 in the semi-finals.
Anika and Alana Seneviratne advanced in the women’s doubles event by defeating Senuri Alexander and Ochithithya Fernando in straight sets 6/1, 6/1. The sisters will take on Savini Jayasuriya and Janali Kawya Manamperi today.
Nithila Goonetilleke and Dulaj Wickramanayake booked their quarterfinal berths in the under-12 boys’ singles event winning their third round matches. Dulaj edged out Nejan Karunatissa in a tough battle 5/4(5), 1/4, 10/8 and Nithila beat Yuthila Hettiarachchi 4/1, 4/1.
Heshan Imanga Hewa Thalagahage was the first to enter the quarters of the girls’ under 14 singles event when she defeated Nelini Jayasuriya 4/2, 4/1 in a third round battle.
Apna Perera had a cake walk to the boys’ under-16 singles quarters after receiving a walkover from Pasindu Bandara in the third round.
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