The third and final tournament of the three tournament futures series hosted in Sri Lanka came to a close on the 26th of March.
The tournament which was hosted by the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) featured four events which yielded the following results.
Men’s Singles
On the back of his win at the SL Open Ha Gel Lee came into the singles events as the hot favorite to win his second title on Lankan soil. The talented Korean lived up to expectations as he used his masterful stroke play to rise above the competition and claim his second singles title on the trot. Lee had to face a series of Lankan competitors from the start to the end of the tournament and faced his toughest competition in Gamini Dissanayake and Upali Rajakaruna. He defeated Dissanayake 6-3 7-5 in the quarter finals and cruised into the final to meet Rajakaruna. The Lankan staged a big upset to reach the finals when he defeated the second seeded Korean Sang Ho Oh 5-7 7-5 10-6 in the quarterfinals, after which he too recorded a straight sets win to reach the finals. The final was ensured to be an uphill task for the Lankan and he looked more than up for the task when he found himself leading 5-2 in the first set. However the Koreans fighting spirit won the day as he staged a wonderful come back to win the set 7-5 and the second set 6-0 in order to claim the title.
Men’s Doubles
The unstoppable force of Ha Gel Lee was once again clearly visible as he teamed up with compatriot Sang Ho Oh to win his second consecutive doubles title. The duo won the event at the SL Open and took their fine form into the SSC open as they strolled through their opening matches to book a finals match up against Upali Rajakaruna and Gamini Dissanayake. Once again the Korean power and force proved to be too much for the Lankans as they posted a comfortable 6-4 6-1 victory.
Women’s Singles and Doubles
Bringing in good form from the SL Open to the SSC Open seemed to be the trend as the Canadian Yuka Chokyu claimed her second title in Sri Lanka. The unseeded Chokyu who burst on to the scene during the SL Open extended her reputation as the giant killer of the tournament as she opened her account with a 6-1 6-0 victory over the second seed Janel Manns. She went on to reach the finals where she defeated the top seeded Australian Sarah Calati 6-3 6-3 in order to seize the title.
The SSC Open also featured a round robin event for the Women’s Doubles. This too was dominated by Chokyu who teamed up with Janel Manns in order to record wins against the Australian combination of Sarah Calati and Luba Josevski as well as the pairing of Anosha Amaratunge from Sri Lanka and Madhu Bagri from India.
