Gauntlett, Cruz prevail to clinch single and doubles crowns
Sam Gauntlett of Hong Kong and Monica Therese Cruz of Philippines emerge singles champions of the Asian U14 Colombo Week 2 tennis
Philippines Monica Therese Cruz bagged the Girls’ title for the second successive week
tournament which concluded in the morning session at the SLTA courts in Greenpath, Colombo yesterday.
Later in the evening Gauntlett and Cruz with their partners went on to win the doubles finals too which saw them ending the tournament on a high note by winning two titles.
The two players won their single finals with ease with Gauntlett defeating Sri Lanka’s Ashen Silva Sangarajage in the boys final and Cruz getting the better of Prabuddhi Perera in the girls’ final.
In the semi-final encounters played earlier Gauntlett and Ashen Silva put up stunning performances when they toppled the favourites and winner and runner up of the previous tournament Sandesh Kantimahanti of Canada and Arjun Sriram of USA.
Boys winner Sam Gauntlett in action - Pix by Ranjith Perera
In the semi-finals of the girls’ category hot favourite and winner of the Week 1 tournament Cruz cruised through to the final with a comfortable win over Janali Manamperi while Prabuddhi Perera beat Anika Seneviratne in the other semi-final.
The doubles semi-finals of the two categories saw Sandesh Kantimahanti (Canada)/Arjun Sriram (USA) and Sam Gauntlett/Mathew Yee (Hong Kong) qualifying to the final. Monica Therese Cruz (Philippines)/Anya Gunawardena (Sri Lanka) champions of the previous tournament and the Sri Lankan pair of Tarah Greig/Janali Manamperi qualified to the girls’ final.
Meanwhile in the doubles final Gauntlett partnered by Mathew Yee defeated the pair of Sandesh Kantimahanti (Canada)/Arjun Sriram (USA) while Cruz along with Anya Gunawardena crushed Tarah Greig/Janali Manamperi (Sri Lanka) to clinch the doubles title in the girls’ category.
In fact Cruz’s two wins were her second successive in as many attempts. She also emerged champion in both the single and doubles events at the first Asian U14 Colombo Week 1 tournament which concluded two weeks ago.
| Results Semi Finals: Singles: Boys – Sam Gauntlett (Hong Kong) beat Sandesh Kantimahanti (Canada) 2-0 (7/5, 6/2). Ashen Silva Sangarajage (Sri Lanka) beat Arjun Sriram (USA) 2-0 (6/4, 6/3). Girls – Prabuddhi Perera (Sri Lanka) beat Anika Seneviratne (Sri Lanka) 2-1 (2/6, 6/4, 6/1). Monica Therese Cruz (Philippines) beat Janali Manamperi (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/0, 6/0). Doubles: Boys – Sandesh Kantimahanti (Canada)/Arjun Sriram (USA) beat Seth Manal Algama/Thevan Perera (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/3, 6/4). Sam Gauntlett/Mathew Yee (Hong Kong) beat Vikum Jayasuriya/Nadun Senadeera (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/3, 6/3). Girls – Monica Therese Cruz (Philippines)/Anya Gunawardena (Sri Lanka) beat Prabuddhi Perera/Anika Seneviratne (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/3, 6/3). Tarah Greig/Janali Manamperi (Sri Lanka) beat Isuni Dharmasiriwardena/Piyumi Wickramasinghe (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/3, 6/1). Final: Singles: Boys – Sam Gauntlett (Hong Kong) beat Ashen Silva Sangarajage (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/0, 6/1). Girls – Monica Therese Cruz (Philippines) beat Prabuddhi Perera (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/1, 6/0). Doubles: Boys – Sam Gauntlett/Mathew Yee (Hong Kong) beat Sandesh Kantimahanti (Canada)/Arjun Sriram (USA) 2-1 (7/6(6), 4/6, 10/5). Girls – - Monica Therese Cruz (Philippines)/Anya Gunawardena (Sri Lanka) beat Tarah Greig/Janali Manamperi (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/2, 6/4). |