Kanthan power too hot for Ashiq
Champions both ….Thangarajah Dineshkanthan the men’s champions and Amritha Muttiah the women’s champions in action at Greenpath yesterday. - Pix by Ranjith Perera.
Thangarajah Dineshkanthan produced a near perfect combination of sensible offense and tenacious defense to batter Tanveer Ashiq into submission and send him tumbling towards a crushing 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 defeat to take the Men’s Singles title at the 97th Tennis Nationals at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts yesterday.
Dineshkanthan was in complete command of the match from start to finish, constantly forcing Ashiq to run along the baseline with powerful and accurate strokes. However, he was aided on more than a few occasions by Ashiq, who racked up the unforced errors as the match wore on.
The tournament top seed struck a telling blow early on, breaking Ashiq during his opening service game of the first set. Ashiq, who possesses a majestic single-handed backhand, could only prod the ball harmlessly over the net as Dineshkanthan regularly cracked lightning forehands that kissed the lines.
A few games later and Ashiq was broken again, making the score 4-1 and effectively handing the opening set to Dineshkanthan. He went on to claim it with a series of dazzling winners from the forehand wing.Ashiq made a strong start to the second set, finding the mark with several rasping forehand and backhand winners and appearing to settle down a little. However, Dineshkanthan’s impressive movement across the court, together with the bullet serves he was firing with regularity, made it virtually impossible for Ashiq to work his way back into the match.
With the score on 4- 4, the pressure finally started to take its toll on Ashiq, as his serve began to buckle. Dineshkanthan, sniffing blood, went in for the kill on game point, handcuffing Ashiq with a missile aimed straight at his chest, to earn a break.This proved to be too much of a mountain for Ashiq to scale and he quickly surrendered the second set to Dineshkanthan 6-4, after an ace thundered past him. By the time the third set rolled around, there was a strong sense that the game’s result was a foregone conclusion as Ashiq seemed to have run out of ideas on how to counter Dineshkanthan’s arsenal of exquisite strokes.
With his serve faltering, Ashiq was fast losing all hope of claiming the coveted national tennis crown, and the alarm bells really started to sound when his serve was broken for the umpteenth time. A string of half-hearted shots followed and Dineshkanthan was soon a game away from claiming the title. He did so by racing to a ball that was sliced harmlessly into the middle of the court and dispatching it past an Ashiq who had for large parts of the game appeared helpless.
In the women’s singles final which was worked off simultaneously, Amritha Muttiah overwhelmed rising tennis star Nethmi Waduge 6-0, 6-3. Waduge, who is still only thirteen-years-old, was simply unable to negotiate the superior firepower of an inspired Muttiah, who displayed sublime form throughout the tournament.
In the semifinals Muttiah overcame Roshenka Fernando 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 while Waduge beat Junior National champion Shankari Thayakaran 6-4, 6-4 for her place in the finals.
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