Top seed Hasali Gajaba and seventh seed Dinara de Silva won the Girls’ Under-14 and Girls’ Under-12 Singles title respectively at the Clay Court Tennis Nationals, which continued at the SLTA Courts in Green Path, Colombo yesterday.
Hasali, the promising schoolgirl from Visakha Vidyalaya lived up to expectations as the favourite and went on to demolish the sixth seed Ruvi Lewkebandara in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.
In contrast, Dinara of St. Bridget’s Convent had the satisfaction of causing a minor upset as she whitewashed the more fancied fifth seed Onali de Silva 6-0, 6-0.
Meanwhile, the semi-final line-up in the Boys’ Under-12 and Boys’ Under-14 Singles have also been completed with all favourites reaching the last eight.
In the Boys’ Under-14 Singles quarter-finals the top seed Thilina Dissanayake took another step closer towards the title while outplaying the number 11, Methvan Wijemanne 6-0, 6-2.
He would meet Thisanda Bellanaarachchi in the first semi-final after the eighth seed had edged-out the number 16, Dhanushka Dias 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final would be between the bottom seed Ransath Peiris and the fifth seed Matheesha Nettasinghe. The former, had the better of the sixth seed Sandaru Guruge 6-1, 6-2 while the latter overcame the fourth seed Manesh Kajan 6-2, 6-1. In the Boys’ Under-12 Singles, the top seed Ganuka Fernando pulled off a hard fought 6-1, 4-6, 10-6 win over the seventh seed Kenuka Geeganage and set up a semi-final showdown with the ninth seed Rehan Gunawardhana who beat the unseeded Kavish Maddumage 6-1, 7-6.
In addition, the bottom seed Jamal Sabry trounced the number 12 Mayanka Perera 6-1, 6-0 while the third seed Gehash Tissera outplayed the number 10, Kavidu Sawmya 6-1, 6-0.
