Sandesh Kanthimanthi from Canada retained his stance in the singles title in the ATF Junior Tennis Ranking series Colombo Week 2 run as ATF top ranker Anika Seneviratne defeated Riya Oboveja to take the Girl’s Singles title in the second week.
It was a walk in the park for the defending titleholder from week 1 when he defeated Seth Manal Algama from Sri Lanka 6-1, 6-2 to get the best out of his Sri Lankan campaign. Algama finished second while the battle for the third spot was between Nenuka Jayatileka and Arjun Sriram. Nenuka Jayatileka lost out to Sriram giving him the third spot in the second week. It was a commendable achievement by Manal Algama who had to counter the American national Arjun Sriram in the semifinals and winning it 5-7,6-7(2) & 6-2.
The highlight of the Colombo 2nd week was however Anika Seneviratne. Anika who was earlier defeated by the Indian Chandrika Joshi in the 1st week, fought back for her position as top seed in the second week winning the finals 4-6, 6-1 & 6-2 against Riya Oboveja. At a point in the first set, it looked to be another Indian win but Anika fought back in the second and third to establish her position.
However, the Seneviratne siblings didn’t have luck on their side in the Doubles draw as they had to face an early exit in the Girl’s doubles quarterfinals. Chandrika Joshi and Archita Mahalwal of India defeated the Seneviratne siblings. The Sri Lankan pair Samadhi Jayasinghe and Anjalika Kurera who got their ticket for the finals was awarded the win as the Joshi and Mahalwal who were the other finalist did not appear for the finals.
Singles title winner Sandesh Kanthimanthi and his partner Arjun Sriram won the Boys Doubles defeating the Arjun Venkat-Vandith Suresh pair 2-6,7-5, 10-5. The greatest distance a Lankan combination went through in the Boy’s doubles was to the semifinals. Yanishke Cooray and Akith Seneviratne were defeated in the semis by the Venkat-Suresh pair and the Chanith De Silva-Lehan Koswatte pair were defeated Indian duo Sriram-Kanthimanthi.
After two weeks of exciting tennis action, the players will take a respite and will continue their ranking series in Thailand.
