Savit and Savani crowned prince and princess
Savit Weerasinghe and Savani Jayasuriya were crowned as the prince and princess of the National Junior circuit, after clinching the Boy’s and Girls’ championships respectively at the 103rd National Tennis Championship at the SLTA courts in Colombo.
Savit Weerasinghe
Eighth seed Savit, overcame sixth seed Chathurya Nilaweera to win the Under-18 Boy’s title while second seed Savani Jayasuriya overcame top seed Janali Manamperi to win the Under-18 Girls’ championship.
Savit cruised during the first round of the draw before he met the top guns from the quarter-final stage. He met fourth seed Luca Knese in the quarter-final and enjoyed a straight set win – 6/2 and 7/5. Savit made look a hard battle easy when he overcame second seed Vibuda Wijebandara 7/5 and 6/0 in the semi-final, to fix a date with Chathurya Nilaweera in the final.
Chathurya, on the other hand encountered stiff challenge from Vikum Jayasuriya in the quarter-final, which went down to the wire. The three-setter eventually ended in favour of Chathurya, who recorded 6/3, 3/6 and 6/2 to reach the semi-final, where he comfortably beat Ashen Silva 6/3 and 6/3 in straight sets.
In the final Savit continued his cool-headed approach to claim the first set 6/1 until Chathurya bounced back to claim the second set 6/3 turning the final into a thrilling affair. However Savit moved out of his comfort zone with some scintillating shots to claim the third set 6/2 and clinch the Boy’s Under-18 championship.
In the Girls’ Under-18 final, Savini faced tough opposition from her doubles partner Janali Manamperi in a final that was a thriller. As the Boy’s final, the Girls’ too had all the excitement and thrills.
Savini gained a win through straight sets, but both were of good quality and competition. The first set was decided in a tie-breaker as Savini won it by 7/6 (4) and continued the momentum by pulling off the second set 6/4 to claim the win and the title.
On her way to the final, Savini beat Oneli Perera in the quarter-final and followed up her form by beating Oshini Herath in the semi-final. Janali overcame Senuri Alexander in the quarter-final and beat Sethmini Sumanaweera in the semi-final.
The tournament was organsed and conducted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
Savani Jayasuriya