The 100th Colombo Championships which saw daylight a fortnight ago will move on to its final week with the top seeds in the country stealing the spotlight during the games that were worked off during the weekend.
The 100th edition of the championships which coincided in line with the centenary celebrations of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association was disrupted at regular intervals with the downpour of heavy rain that took Colombo by surprise over the past few days. The skies cleared up in the last two days paving way for the most anticipated open categories to get underway.
Sri Lanka’s Top Seed player Thangarajah Dineshkanthan had it easy against his opponent Neshan Gunesekara in the qualifiers winning the game 6-3 & 4-0 as he got his access to the quarter-finals. He will be facing Arvind Fernando in the quarters that would be played at the SLTA courts this evening.
In the other quarter final is third seed Yasitha De Silva who qualified for the quarter final match defeating Wasantha De Costa 6-0,6-0. Fourth seed Nishangan Nadaraja has his ticket booked in the final quarter final where he will face P Athauda which will decide the next semi-finalist. Up and coming player, Sharmal Dissanyake will only participate in the Men’s doubles alongside Dineshkanthan with the doubles category still to begin.
The women’s open title was the highlight in the past two days, as the top seeds had it easy against their opponents in the qualifiers to gain quarter-final access. Defending champion and Visakhian Thisuri Molligoda will be looking to retain her title for the second successive year. Thisuri automatically qualified for the semi-final with a bye where her skills will be put on test when she faces Sri Lanka’s #1 Amritha Muttiah. The defending national title holder Amritha gained easy access to the semi-finals defeating Hasindhi Lokuge 6-4,5-1.
The encounter between the young Thisuri Molligoda and Amritha Muttiah will be the highlight in the Women’s games which is scheduled for Tuesday.
Visakhian Nethmi Waduge will have to face Shenalie Weerasekara in the quarter final game to decide who gets the third semi final place while third seed Medira Samarasinghe will need to defeat Anika Seneviratne to book herself the court for the semis.
With the skies clearing up, action will resume in the SLTA clay courts starting at 12.00 noon
