Yasitha De Silva and Rukshika Wijesooriya stole the show clinching three titles apiece, as the SSC Open Tennis Championships-2017 drew to a close on Sunday (21st).
The SSC Open Championship that started in early May is one of Sri Lanka’s ‘A’ grade ranking tournaments held annually with the active participation of the top ranking players in the country.
Yasitha De Silva came out victorious in the Men’s Open Singles beating the top seed, Heera Ashiq in an intense final which could have gone either way when the second set was tied at 5-5. De Silva held his nerve to come through a stern test by Ashiq as he took the second set 7-5 after asserting his authority in the first set with a dominant performance (6-4). He showed great form in his singles game right throughout as he did not drop a single set during the course of the tournament.
He was also involved in the Men’s Open Doubles win alongside Sankha Athukorala when the duo beat Rukmal Cooray and N. S. Nishendran 6-3,6-3. His third title came along when he partnered with Amritha Muttiah to beat Sankha Athukorala and Senuri Alexander 6-2,6-3 in the Mixed Doubles final.
Teenager Rukshika Wijesooriya surprised many with some entertaining tennis as she beat number two seed Roshenka Fernando 6-4,6-3 in the Women’s Open Singles final before partnering with her opponent, Roshenka to clinch the Women’s Open doubles title. She served brilliantly and kept the pressure on her opponents in her singles game as she didn’t drop a single set on her way to the title while she teamed up with Fernando on their way to a comfortable win in the doubles final. She also grabbed the Girls Under 18 Singles title to cap off a dream tournament toppling some of the finest players.
In the Boy’s Under 18 Singles event, top seed Vibuda Wijebandara beat Luca Knese 7-6(5),6-4 in the final before and showed ominous form as he closed out all his matches in just two sets throughout the tournament.
Winners List
Boy’s Under 16 Singles winner– Ashen Silva
Girl’s Under 16 Singles winner– Anjalika Kurera
Boy’s Under 16 Doubles winner- Ashen Silva/Vinuja Wijebandara
Girl’s Under 16 Doubles Winner– Senuri Alexander/Savini Jayasuriya
Boy’s Under 18 Singles winner– Vibuda Wijebandara
Girl’s Under 18 Singles winner– Rukshika Wijesooriya
Men’s Open Singles winner– Yasitha De Silva
Women’s Open Singles winner– Rukshika Wijesooriya
Men’s Open Doubles winner– Yasitha De Silva/Sankha Athukorala
Women’s Open Doubles winner– Roshenka Fernando/ Rukshika Wijesooriya
Mixed Doubles winner- Yasitha De Silva/Amritha Muttiah
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