Rajeev looking for crown

By Saif Izzadeen

After a two year wait No 1 seed Rajeev Rajapakse will have his chance to become Men’s champion when he takes on Amrith Rupasinghe in the men’s singles final of the 92nd Sri Lanka Tennis nationals which will be worked off at the SLTA courts at Green Path today.

The match will start at 1.30 pm and it will be worked off in best of five sets. Both players are in fine form and thrilling tennis match is in store for the tennis fans.

In 2005 and 2006 Rajeev Rajapakse came to the final and lost to Harshana Godamanne. In both years it was thrilling finals However Godamanne had the extra bite to pull-off the game in his favour.

In the Semi final Rajeev Rajapakse beat Sanka Atukorale 6/2, 6-0 while Amrith Rupasinghe overcame Dinusha Wijesuriya 6/4, 2/6 and 7/6.

In the women’s section No 1 seed Jithmie Jayawickrema will go all out to win the women’s championship for third consecutive year when she takes on Amritha Muttiah in the final which will be worked off at 2.30pm and it will be worked off in best of three sets.

In the semi final Jithmie Jayawickrema beat Thavindra Ekanayake 6/2 and 6-1 and Amritha Muttiah beat Nilupul Gunasekera 6/1 and 6/0.

Yesterday, in the men’s doubles quarter finals Sanka Atukorale and Rohan de Silva beat Shehan Gomes and Ishan Jayamanne 6-1 and 6/2.From the start Atukorale and De Silva dominated the game and ran out winners.

In the Upasama A Hewacottege and Gyanga Weerasekera beat Sohan Patrick and Sasith Wickremasinghe 6/3, 4/6 and 6/2 while Renouk Wijemanne and Rajeev Rajapakse received a walkover from Niren Nevdoff and Kishandan Thangarajah.

Mixed doubles semi final line up Jithmie Jayawickrema and Rajeev Rajapakse will meet N. Nishendran and Shenalie Weerasekera while Nilupul Gunasekera and Dinusha Wijesuriya will meet Mahesha Seneviratne and Sasith Wickremasinghe.