Tennis: Avindra and Nethmi win Under-18 Singles titles

Avindra Perera and Nethmi Waduge, two of Sri Lanka’s promising tennis stars, bagged the Under-18 Singles title in Boy’s and Girls’ categories respectively in the ongoing Junior Tennis Nationals 2015 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts in Colombo.   Avindra lost the first set 4/6, but made a dramatic comeback to outclass Aadavan Pushparaj winning the remaining sets 6/4 and 6/0 in the Under-18 Boy’s Singles final.   The gritty S. Thomas’ College tennis player, on his way to the final, went through a similar experience in the semi-final before downing Chehan Fernando 2/6, 7/5 and 6/4, after a tougher battle.   But he had a cakewalk in the quarter-final against B. Suren to win the dual in straight sets, 6/4, 6/4. In the Girls’ category Nethmi of Visakha Vidyalaya, was more vibrant.   She won the final in straight sets, 6/3, 6/4 against Thisuri Molligoda.   On her way to the final, Nethmi had two smashing wins to gather momentum to a straight win.   She beat Rukshika Wijesuriya 6/3, 7/5 in the semi-final after thrashing Tarah Greig 6/0, 6/1 in the quarter-final.