It will be a repeat of last year’s national championship final as Nethmi Waduge and Thisuri Molligoda will meet each other once again in the final of the 101st Junior and Senior National Championship that is set to be played tomorrow at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
This is will be the second occasion where the two will meet in an open title race and the reigning champion Thisuri Molligoda will look to take her second national title home this year. Having spent most of the 2016 season injured, Thisuri will look to regain her touch in the racket game but the in-form Nethmi Waduge will go in as the favourite having already won the Colombo Championship title. With Nethmi topping the Sri Lanka seeding in the women’s division so far, a closely contested game is on the cards in the final.
Making her entry into the finals, Nethmi Waduge defeated Medhira Samarasinghe in the semi-finals 7-6(5) and 6-4 while her counterpart Thisuri Molligoda saw off Anika Seneviratne 6-2, 6-4 in her respective semi-final encounter.
Photo Album – Senior Nationals Tennis Tournament 2016 – Day 1 – Men’s Singles
Meanwhile, Sharmal Dissanayake got his ticket to the Men’s Open final yesterday defeating the Pakistan national Heera Ashiq in straight sets. This will be the 20-year old’s second final in a national championship and in the earlier instance, he ended up as runner-up losing to Dineshkanthan Thangarajah.
The second semifinal for the Men’s single will take place today as Sanka Atukorale will face Yasitha De Silva. The Davis Cup player, Yasitha had an impressive stint this season but lost out in the semi-finals of the recently concluded 101st Colombo Championship but is poised to take major honours in the semi-final match.
Photo Album – Senior Nationals Tennis Tournament 2016 – Day 2 – Mixed Doubles
The Women’s Single final will commence tomorrow at the SLTA main courts at 9.30 a.m. followed by the Men’s Single final later in the afternoon.
