106th Colombo Tennis Championships Thehan bags maiden Men’s title

By M. Shamil Amit

Royal College Colombo student Thehan Wijemanne recorded a hard fought two sets to one win to deny Chathurya Nilaweera a second title win in the final of the Men’s Open at the Colombo Tennis Championships played at the SLTA Tennis Courts in Greenpath, Colombo yesterday. 

Top seeded Wijemanne underwent some anxious moments after taking a one-set lead, only to lose the second, but he came back victorious in the deciding set to bag his maiden title.
In the junior category Gehansa Methanadi cruised through to the Girls’ Under 12 final with a convincing two sets to nil win over Movindi Fernando.

Meanwhile in the quarter-final matches played in the junior category Aleesha Silva (Girls’ Under 12) Oneli Samaraweea and Dinara de Silva (Girls’ Under 14), Ziadh Zihar (Boys’ Under 16) and Dinethya Dharmaratne (Girls’ Under 16) came out victorious to advance to the semi finals.

The championship will be continued today.

Results:
Final:
Men’s Open Singles – Thehan Wijemanne beat Chathurya Nilaweera 2-1 (6/4, 4/6, 10/7)
Quarter Finals:
Singles:
Girls’ Under 12 – Aleesha Silva beat Venuli Jayasinghe 2-0 (4/1, 4/0); Girls’ Under 14 – Oneli Samarawickrama beat Binudi Wijeyawardena 2-1 (5/4(9), 1/4, 10/2); Dinara de Silva beat Venuli Jayasinghe 2-0 (4/0, 4/0); Boys’ Under 16 – Zaidh Zihar beat Lisal Goonetileek 2-0 (4/2, 5/3); Girls’ Under 16 – Dinethya Dharmaratne beat Nishka Vivekanandan 2-0 (4/2, 4/0)
Semi Finals:
Singles: Girls’ Under 12 – Gehansa Methnadi beat Movindi Fernando 2-0 (4/1, 4/1)