Chathurya bags a deserving triple crown
Savini Jayasuriya
The Nilaweera brothers — Chathurya and Vichinthya — Tehan Wijemanne, Luca Knese, Savini Jayasuriya and Ruvi Lewkebandara shared honours as winners of the Junior National Tennis Championship, concluded at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts in Colombo.
Chathurya Nilaweera became the cynosure of the concluded tournament that ran for almost three weeks, after managing to grab a triple crown — all Doubles titles.
After creating history in the National Tennis Championship, by becoming the youngest pair to win the Men’s Doubles title, Chathurya and Tehan, got together to add the Boy’s Under-18 Doubles title to their trophy tally at the 105th Nationals. The duo had the better of Luca and Kaveesha Ratnayake 6-1, 6-1, in a final that had a mixture of excitement, thrill and agony.
However, Chathurya’s dream of grabbing an early triple crown was denied by Luca, who fought hard to record a thrilling 2-1 win. After losing the first 2-6, Chathurya bounced back to record a close 7-5 win but Luca comprehensively outplayed his opponent to clinch the Boy’s Under-18 Singles title.
Chathurya’s younger brother Vichinthya bagged the Boy’s Under-14 Singles championship, however, handing the Nilaweeras a worthy tally of titles this season. Vichinthya comfortably beat Ransath Peiris 6-1, 6-1.
Brothers Chathurya and Vichinthya paired up to win the Boy’s Under-16 Doubles title, to complete the much anticipated triple crown for the older brother. They beat Zaidh Zihar and Jaitra de Saram in a thrilling final that ran up to three sets. After securing the first set 6-2, the Nilaweera brothers faced a slight setback as they suffered a 6-7 loss in the second set against the Zaidh-Jaitra combination. The third set was filled with full of action as the two brothers romped to secure the title with a strong 10-7 win.
Savini Jayasuriya enjoyed an easy passage to annex the Girls’ Under-18 Singles title, after she totally outplayed Oneli Perera. Savini, from Gateway College, had early setbacks in both sets, but her comeback was unique, as she marched to defeat Oneli 6-1. 6-0.
Chathurya Nilaweera
Oneli later paired up with Sethmi Sumanaweera to win the Girls’ Under-18 Double championship, as they marched to record an easy 2-0 win against Arella de Zoysa and Vonara de Alwis. The match ended with straightforward scores of 6-0, 6-0.
Ruvi Lewkebandara had to play up to her potential to defeat Hasali Gajaba 6-3, 6-4 and clinch the Girls’ Under-16 Singles championship, while Dinara de Silva beat Vishmi Serasinghe 7-5, 7-6 to claim her second singles title. Dinara, of St. Bridget’s Convent, earlier won the Girls’ Under-12 Singles title, and put an even more committed show to beat Vishmi in the Girls’ Under-14 Singles final.
In the Girls’ Under-16 Doubles final Dinethya Dharmaratne and Sajida Razick paired up to hand Anitra Dharmaratne and Dewmini Warnasuriya a 2-0 thrashing. The winners won the sets 6-3, 6-0.
In the Under-14 Doubles, Inuki Jayaweera and Melasha Randini paired up to beat Dinara de Silva and Ruvi Lewkebandara in a keenly contested thriller that went all the way to a three-setter.
Inuki and Melasha recorded a narrow 7-6 win in the first set to set the tone for a win in the final, but Dinara and Ruvi bounced back to win the second set by the same margin. The third set was an unexpected thriller, which went all the way to the wire, before Inuki and Melasha secured the title with a 14-12 win.
In the Boy’s Under-14 Doubles final Sadaru Guruge and Ransath Peiris beat Janava de Saram and Matheesha Nettasinghe in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.