As the prestigious 103rd Colombo Championships Tennis Tournament nears its last days in competition, Janali Manamperi and Savit Weerasinghe clinched the all-important Girls and Boys U-18 championships.
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The Colombo Championship Tennis tournament is the first major competition the Sri Lanka Tennis Association initiated and 103 years later, it is considered to be the best in quality and otherwise. All top-ranking players from around the island participate along with sometimes international appearances.
Tournament top seed Kavisha Rathnayake suffered a disappointing loss at the hands of Savit in the first round, while Reeza Maharoof, Vikum Jayasuriya and Innthujan Selvaratnarajah also couldn’t find the juice to stop young Weerasinghe.
From the bottom half of the draw, 6th seeded Chathurya Nilaweera’s journey to the final was not all that sweet. Deelaka Ranasingha, Anul Pahan Dheerasinghe and Wenuka Kithnula were Nilaweera’s first three victims who went down tamely. Shevindra Perera was the only player to test Nilaweera’s limits, pushing the semifinal to a three setter, but in vain as Nilaweera pulled through 3/6, 6/0, 6/3 to enter the final.
It was a breezy final clash between Chathurya Nilaweera and Savit Weerasinghe as non-seeded Weerasinghe finished off a with a quick and easy 6/2, 6/1 score to claim the championship title.
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Over on the Girls draw, top seed Janali Manamperi stamped her authority on the U18 title with a thrilling three-set win over compadre Savini Jayasuriya.Manamperi had a disappointing stint in the Women’s Open singles category but found form in her true age group when it mattered most.
In a 16-member draw, Oneli Perera and Anya Gunawardena went down to Manamperi in the quarters and semi-final matches without hassle to meet fellow teammate in the 2018 Senior Fed Cup Team, Savini Jayasuriya, in the final.
The first set went easily to Manamperi 6/2, but Jayasuriya bounced back with an enthralling second set victory of 6 games to 4 to take it to a sudden death third set. One break of serve was all it took for Manamperi to stand out and claim the set 6/3 to be crowned the U18 Colombo Championships Girls champion of 2018.
