As the Junior Nationals Tennis Tournament is drawing to a close, the finals of the under 18 age group – for the most prestigious title of the tournament, will be played today.
From the girls, no. 1 seeded Anika Seneviratne is due to take on Medhira Samarasinghe while Avindra Perera and Aadavan Pushparaj will battle it out for the boys’ title at the SLTA courts down Green Path. Seneviratne and Perera who have been the in-form duo in the tournament are said to be the favourites for the ultimate silverware of the finals.
Seneviratne, who most recently grabbed the under 18 girls’ title at the Colombo Championship in July will be the favourite to win the finals against her fellow school-mate, Samarasinghe. Throughout the entire tournament, she has won all her matches, easily defeating her opponents; Prabudhi Perera 6-3 6-3, Natasha Munaweera 6-2 6-4 and Janali Manamperi in straight sets scoring 6-4 and 7-6, to book her place in the finals. Though she will undoubtedly pose a tough challenge to her opponent, Samarasinghe also comes into the finals with testimonials of her own great skill displayed in all her matches. Being ranked no.4, she caused a shocking upset to second seeded Tara Greig in the semi-finals when Samarasinghe won with scores of 6-0 6-0. Even in her preliminary matches against Seranya Karunaratne and Ochithya Fernando, she effortlessly conquered her games, winning both scoring 6-0, 6-0.
Defending champion of the under 18 title and spearhead of his school – S. Thomas’ College’s victory at the Under 19 Public Schools’ Championship, Avindra Perera who comes into the finals defeating Udayachandran Srinath 6-1 6-4 in the semi-finals and Vibuda Wijebandara 6-4 7-6(5) and Nadil Silva 6-0 6-0. 15-year old Perera will go all out to beat his opponent Aadavan Pushparaj to emerge victorious in the tournament for the second consecutive year. Pushparaj, last year’s runner up is also expected to be unyielding in this crucial match having won his matches against Chanith de Silva 6-0 6-0, Dulith Ellawala 6-2 6-1 and Manal Algama 6-3 1-6 1-6 and defeating Archana Lokuge in the semi-final scoring 6-2 7-5.
Apart from the finals, the finals of the girls’ under 18 doubles and the semi-finals of the boys’ under 18 doubles are also scheduled to take place today at the same location.
