Yasitha, Dineshkanthan defy defending champions to win doubles title

Tennis Nationals 2021

Men’s singles champion Yasitha de Silva won his second title of the ongoing Tennis National Championships when he joined Thangaraja Dineshkanthan to beat defending champions Thehan Wijemanne and Chathurya Nilaweera in the men’s doubles final at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts on Wednesday.

Emerging players Wijemanne and Nilaweera were the doubles champions at the last edition where they beat Yasitha de Silva and Sankha Atukorale.

This time Yasitha joined Dineshkanthan for the doubles and the experienced pair came back from a set defeat to score 3-6, 6-3, 12-10 in the final yesterday. Of the doubles finalists, Wijemanne, Nilaweera and de Silva were involved in the business end of the men’s singles as well with the last two reaching the final.

In the Under 12 category, the most competitive age category of this championship, Githmi Fernando of Ave Maria Convent, Negombo and Ananda College player Methika Wickramasinghe clinched the girls’ and boys’ singles titles respectively yesterday.

In a clash between the top two seeds, number one seed, Wickramasinghe beat Aahil Kaleel 6-2, 7-6(5) to win the boys’ final.

On his way to the final Wickramasinghe beat Senul Marasinghe (4-0, 4-0), Minhas Muthuthanthri (4-2, 4-1), Chamidu Abeysinghe (quarter-final 6-3, 6-2) and third seed Saha Kapilasena (semi-final 6-4, 3-6, 10-8).

In the girls’ final, Fernando beat Akeesha Silva 6-2, 6-1 to win the title. Fernando beat Vinuthi Nethumya 4-0, 4-0, Gianna Perera (4-0, 4-0), Yuhansa Peiris (Quarter-final 6-0, 6-2) and top seed Gehansa Methnadi (Semi-final 6-2, 6-3) to reach the final.

The winners received their awards from Sujani Bogollagama, vice president Sri Lanka Tennis Association.