Esan advances to 2nd round

Sri Lanka's Esan Jayamanne had a hard-fought two sets to one win over Indian Vishweth Sinha to advance to the boys singles second round of the Asian Under-14 International Championships begun at the National Tennis Centre courts, Colombo yesterday.

Having lost the opening set badly, the Lankan won the second set in great fashion before surviving some anxious moments in the decisive third set to taste a sweet win 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the first round of boys singles.

In the other matches of the Boys singles first round played last evening, Irfan Ahmed Hussain (India) beat Kthiambarawatta (Sri Lanka) 6/1 , 6/1, Gayanga Weerasekera (Sri Lanka) beat M. Ahamed Shaakir (Sri Lanka) 6/1, 6/2, A. Jayawickreme (Sri Lanka) beat Sanjiv Fernando (Sri Lanka) 6/1, 6/1, B. D.Thangaraja (Sri Lanka) beat Shavith Fernando (Sri Lanka) 6/0, 6/0, Arvind Fernando (Sri Lanka) Bathushaira Gammune (Sri Lanka) 6/0, 6/0 and Kaushala Kulatunga (Sri Lanka) beat Samay Jhingon (India) 6/0, 6/0.

In the Girls singles first round matches played on the opening day, Sri Lanka's Nadine Jayaratne had a convincing straight sets win over Indian Nitya Amalean 6/2, 6/1.

In the other all-Sri Lankan matches of the same event, Shenlie Weerasekera beat Dinushki Kirthisinghe 6/4, 6/3, Sherene Wijesinghe beat Archana Sivakanthan 6/3, 7/6 and Ajini Gunawardane beat Kemalie Herath 6/7, 6/2, 6/3.

The tournament, conducted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association on behalf of the ATF under ITF rules, will be continued at the same venue today.