Sohan and Dinali take Mercantile tennis titles

Sanjaya Ariyaratne

Number of major upsets were created on the final day of the Mercantile Tennis Tournament worked off at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, courts, Green Path, Colombo on Sunday. The tournament was conducted by the SLTA and sponsored by National Development Bank (NDB).

It was smooth sailing for bottom seed Dinali de Silva of HSBC as she chalked out an easy straight set victory over top seed Suwini Fernando of NDB by a margin of 6/0,6/0 in the final to take the women's singles crown.

Before going down in the final the latter registered some good straight sets wins in the semi-finals and early matches. Fernando beat seed number three Navodha Dissanayake (HSBC) 6/0,6/0 comprehensively in the semi finals while Dinali received a walk over from seed number four Renuka Kulakulasuriya (Seylan Bank).

Unfancied Pubudu Wijesundara of DFCC created a sensation by beating Murram Fernandersz (NDB) (6/3,6/1) in the final of the men's division three. The former toppled his team mate seed number three Damith Fernando (6/4,6/3) in the semi finals while Fernandersz overcame D.N. Samaranayake (NDB) (6/2,6/1).

Apart from the individual events another major sensation witnessed in the women's doubles as more fancied NDB duo Suwini Fernando and Ashwini Perera went down to bottom seeds Dilini de Silva partnered by Navodha Dissanayake (HSBC) by a low margin (6/2,6/1). Before reaching final the former overwhelmed seed number three Manori Liyanage and Sriyani Ranatunge (6/1,6/2) with the pair of Dilini and Navodha beating K. Pansalkorala and S. Sethwala (DFCC) in the semi finals.

In the men's division one final bottom seed Sohan Patrick (SJMS) emerged victorious by defeating Kushal Wijewickrame (2/6,6/0,6/1). Kushal stunned top seed Aasiri Iddamalgoda (HSBC) (6/0,7/5) in the previous fixture while Sohan received a walk over from Nihal Welikala (NDB).

Top seeds Dinali de Silva and Aasiri Iddamalgoda (HSBC) overcame their team mates bottom seed duo Navodha Dissanayake and Gavin Perera (6/1,6/2) in the mixed doubles final. The former beat Cruz Sarita and Ishantha Samarasinghe (HSBC) (6/1,6/1) to enter final while bottom seed pair beat the combination of Suwini Fernando and Lasantha Fernando (NDB) (6/3,7/6).

In the men's division two final top seed Gavin Perera (HSBC) beat bottom seed Sunil Wijeratne (HSBC) (6/3,6/2). In the semi finals the former beat Vibodha Chandrasekara (DFCC) with Wijeratne beating fancied D.L.P. Goonatilake (SAM) 7/5,6/4.