The Seneviratne sisters; Anika Seneviratne and Alanna Seneviratne turned tables at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts over the weekend with the Lankan duo emerged victorious in the ATF Junior Series Doubles title defeating the Indian pair Taaanya Sah and Riya Oboveja.
Alanna & Anika came back into the game having lost the first set 2-6 disappointingly and later fought back in the second and third sets to win the match 2-1. The second set that lasted almost an hour went down to the wire with the set going to break points. The Lankan sisters were successful to get the break points thereby winning the set 7-6.
The absorbing game went down to the tiebreakers in order to decide the victor of the draw. The tiebreakers fell in the favor of the Lankan pair as they went on to win the tie 10-2. With the Seneviratne pair winning the important doubles title, the Sri Lankan contingent were finally successful in winning one out of the four titles that were on offer being the host nation.
The Seneviratne duo defeated Vitini De Alwis and Oneli Perera 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals to progress through to the finals. This was one of the rare instances that the tennis arena witnessed a sibling combination in the doubles. Fourteen-year-old Anika Seneviratne has already made her mark winning double honors in the National Championships and in the Colombo Championships that was held earlier this year.
The Boys title saw a clear Indian dominance where none of the Sri Lankan pairs got the privilege of reaching the finals. Top seed Rahul Jaideep and Vansh Bhagtani took home the doubles crown defeating Sandesh Kantimanti and Arjun Sriram.
The Jaideep-Bhagtani duo won the first set 6-1 comprehensively and ended up losing out their counterparts 3-6 in the second. With the decision going to tiebreakers, it was the Jaideep-Bhagtani combo that had the better points on board winning the tie 12-10.
The singles title winner Sandesh Kantimanti and his partner Arjun Sriram had to be content with the second spot as their opponents came out to be the better of the two. The maximum distance Sri Lanka was able to progress in the draw was to the semi finals as two doubles teams ended up in the top four. Nenuka Jayathileke and Pesajith Kannangara lost their semi final to the Kantimanti-Sriram pair 6-4, 6-3. The other pair; Chanith De Silva and Lehan Koswatte lost out to the winning pair having given a good fight in the second set.
