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by Leslie Fernando

Bottom seeds Thiyumi Abeysinghe and Charitha Goonewardena demonstrated their masterly skills on the court by beating the top seeds Dinali de Silva and Kashini Jayathilake to win the Girls under-16 doubles title on the penultimate day of the Hilton Jaic Open Doubles Tennis Gala 2003 played for the Sunday Observer and Daily News trophies at the Hilton Jaic courts on Saturday.

Thiyumi and Charitha took the title in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 and 7-5. In the semi-finals Thiyumi and Charitha overcame Navodi de Silva and Anjali de Soyza also in straight sets 7-5, 7-2, 9-4. Dinali and Kashini received a walkover from Dinushika Pemananda and T. Fernando. Thiyumi and Charitha also entered the finals of the Women's Open Doubles event.

The pair will meet Y. Inouve and A. Inouve in the finals to be played today. Thiyumi and Charitha had a win over A. M. Molle and C. Geeraenbold in the semi-finals 7-0, 7-0, 8-6 while Y. Inouve and A. Inouve beat T. Cooney and A. Greher in the other semi-finals 7-2, 7-4, 8-4. Thiyumi had fine day figuring in the mixed doubles too. Thiyumi partnering Avantha Suranimala were beaten in the quarter finals 4-7, 4-7, 3-7 by Perumal Ganesh and Andrea Broher. In the Men's Open Doubles Top seeds A. Arudpragasam and Harini de Silva reached the quarter-finals win a over C. de Silva and C. J. Ranaweera. The other pair to enter quarter-finals was J. Majeed and Autti Kahikko who beat L. D. Dayantha and A. D. Abbru 8-6, 7-3, 7-4. Bottom seeds brothers Upasamantha Hewakottage and Champuthi Hewakottage progressed smoothly to the quarter-finals of the Boys under-16 doubles with a win over Shalinda Kekulawela and Andrew Cooney 6-7, 7-2, 7-2, 7-2. There were several exciting matches in the mixed doubles event. Former Davis Cup player Arjan Perera partnering Kumi Madugalle put up a gallant display to beat brother and sister combination of S. Sabanathan and Solochana Sabanathan in the first quarter-finals.

The top seeds Arjan and Kumi combined effectively to move to the semis, the pair had it easy in the first two sets 7-4, 7-5 but had to use all the experience to pull off the third 12-10. Arjan and Kumi will meet Perumal Ganesh and Andrea Broher in the first semi-finals. Perumal and Andrea beat Avantha Suranimala and Thiyumi 7-4, 7-4, 7-3 in the other quarters.

Bottom seeds V. T. Sundaralingam and Katharina Twerenbold who beat D. de Silva and E. Jayawardena 7-3, 7-5, 7-4, in next quarters will meet the winners of S. Wickremaratne/C. Wickremaratne and D. Paraniharan and F. Seneviratne in the second semi-final.

Kapila Amerasinghe, Kapila Pilimatalawa and Upul Priyantha the representatives of the SLTA are officiating at the matches.

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