P.W.S.K. Paranawithana bagged the SSC Wheelchair open title in the second round of the ITF Wheelchair Sri Lanka series when he defeated A. Jayaratne of Sri Lanka 4-6, 7-5, 10-5.
The ITF series that started off a week back completed its second round at the Singhalese Sports Club tennis courts yesterday as the two Sri Lankans ended up in the final clash. The winner of the second round, Paranawithana met Indian player Karthik Karunakaran in the quarterfinals and the latter defeated him in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. The other finalist A. Jayaratne was lucky to have a bye in the quarters and defeated W. Weerasinghe 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the finals. This was the second draw that Paranawithana won as the main draw will continue next week in the third leg of the SL Wheelchair open at the SLTA premises.
The main draw has Sri Lanka’s hopes centered on defending champion Gamini Dissanayaka who has made his way on to the semifinals after an win against South Korean player Sang Oh-Hoh in the quarterfinals, defeating him 6-1, 6-1. Gamini will now have to face Zujun Wei of China in the semifinals.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka are currently in the final of the Men’s doubles where the Sri Lankan duo Upali Rajakaruna and D. S. R. Dharmasena will meet South Korea. Ha-Gel Lee and Sang-Ho-Ho will represent South Korea.
This is the continuation series of the Sri Lankan Wheelchair series under the ITF Wheelchair International Series; the final round will commence next week at SLTA.
