Savini Jayasuriya toppled Alana Seneviratne in a cracking final of the Girls U18 open singles, at the Clay Court Nationals Tennis Tournament 2019. The match took place a short while ago (21st May) at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
Photos: Clay Court Nationals 2019 | Day 7
The first National title of the year, the Clay Court Nationals, commenced on the 10th of May at the iconic clay courts at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association. Of the tournament, the Girls Junior National title was contested for this evening, between Savini Jayasuriya of Bishop’s College and Alana Seneviratne of Ladies’ College.
After a closely fought one-break-a-set clash, Savini Jayasuriya emerged victorious to take home this year’s first Junior National crown. Final scores read 6/4, 6/4.
Video: මීගමුව දිනූ ජයග්රහණයක්, රටම දිනූ විජයග්රහණයක්
Savini’s road to the final
Starting in the bottom half of the draw as the second seed, Savini Jayasuriya picked up easy wins along the way. Her first opponent was Vonara De Alwis, who didn’t stand a chance against Jayasuriya, bending easy at 6/2, 6/0.
Next, T Alexander had a go at Jayasuriya; The first set was total domination by the latter, but Alexander bounced back to pose a threat in the second. However, Jayasuriya prevailed and moved on into the semifinals, 6/0, 7/5.
Standing in her way to the final was Tania Doloswala who was seeded 3rd in the tournament. Jayasuriya wasted no time in booking her final slot with a score of 6/2, 6/4 against Doloswala, ending her stint in the championship.
Photos: Clay Court Nationals 2019 | Day 1
Alana’s road to the final
Alana Seneviratne, younger sibling of reigning National Champion Anika Seneviratne, has had a magnificent run in the tournament so far. Starting the tourney unseeded in the top half of the draw, Alana was faced with tough ties in her opening fixtures.
Her first-round match was against Sethmi Sumanaweera who fought hard and fought well. Pushing the match to a three-setter, Sumanaweera did not make it a cake walk for Seneviratne to get through. Eventually, Alana prevailed 6/4, 4/6, 10/8 (Super tie breaker).
With no room to recover, Seneviratne was faced with her 2nd three-setter in the very next round against 4th seed Oneli Perera. Much like her first-round match, Alana started strong in the 1st set, but failed to close out the match in the second. But, she sealed the deal in the third to move on to the semifinal with a final score of 6/4, 2/6, 10/8.
Her semifinal match was the easiest so far for Seneviratne, winning the match in comfortable straight sets 6/1, 6/1 against P Chandramohan, thus booking her spot in the final.
The Girl’s U18 Final was the first of many finals to come in the Clay Court Nationals Tennis Championship 2019. Stay logged on to ThePapare.com for more updates, results and photos from the tournament!
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