Tennis: Thangarajah and Molligoda win Singles titles

Second seeded Dineshkanthan Thangarajah and top seed Thisuri Molligoda clinched the Men’s and Women’s Open Singles national titles respectively when they came out on top in the two finals played in the morning session at the SLTA courts in Greenpath, Colombo on Saturday (22).   Thangarajah’s opponent, the No.1 seed Sharmal Dissanayake was unfortunately forced to retire at the halfway stage of the second after in the Men’s Open Singles.   By then Thangarajah had taken a lead with a first set win and in fact he was leading when the game was stopped due to Sharmal being unfit.   In contrast in the Women’s Open it was a one horse race with Thisuri Molligoda keeping up to her reputation to clinch the title.   Thisuri was given a fright by Nethmi Waduge, who booked a berth to the final having toppled reigning champion Amritha Muttiah who has been the champion for the last six years running, in the semi-final encounter the previous day.   It was sweet revenge for Thisuri who was beaten by Nethmi in the Under-18 Junior Nationals a fortnight ago.   Thisuri having taken a the lead in the three set encounter before conceding the second but came back to seal the game in her favour with a convincing third set win.   Meanwhile Anika Seneviratne excelled in the Junior National Tennis Championship when she bagged three titles and missed out on one.   Anika first bagged the Under-14 girls event and then partnered by Prabuddhi Perera went on to win the Under-14 and Under-16 Doubles titles.   Aadavan Pushparaj and Ashen Silva too had a successful sting in the junior nationals with both players bagging two titles each.   Aadavan came out on top in the Under-16 Boys Singles and Doubles events while Ashen too tasted success in the same two events.