ITF Junior Circuit tennis (2):

Will Amreetha and Dineshkanthan be this time lucky?

Richard DWIGHT

Sri Lanka’s Dineshkanthan did not appear to be overawed by the defeat sustained at the hands of the Chinese Tao in the finals last Saturday of the concluded ITF Junior Circuit (week (1)) tennis tournament.

He shrugged it off as just one of those things that go along with winning and losing - when yesterday at the SLTA courts he overcame stiff opposition from the Korean K. Jang in the ITF Junior Circuit (week (2)) semi-final to enter the finals.

The same is true of Sri Lanka’s Amreetha Muttiah, who in the earlier tournament in the quarter-finals lost to the Indian, Divija Mandava but came out strongly in the current tournament to defeat India’s Zainab Ali Sajjad in the semi-finals.

In the boys singles semi-final, Dineshkanthan had to give as much as he got against Jang and did manage get the better of him to take the first set at 6/4.

The second set was a dour battle for supremacy between the two with both matching each other game for game and with score evenly poised Jang won the tie breaker set at 6/7 (6). In the decisive third set Dineshkanthan was hard pressed to take it at 6/4 and win the match.

Dineshkanthan will now meet the Korean Chang Hyo Woo in the finals. Woo beat Amresh Jayawickrema in the semifinals.

In the girls singles, Amreetha seeded No. 3 did well in the semifinal against India’s Sajjad the No. 1 seed to win the first set after a gruelling clash at 6/4 conceded the second set rather tamely at 2/6 and did come back into her own in the third set to outplay Sajjad to take the set at 6/4 and win the match.

Amreetha will take on the Indian Mandava in the finals. Mandava beat P. Chinsakchai the Thai girl in the semifinal.

Results:

Boys Singles semi finals: T. Dineshkanthan (SL) beat K. Jang (Kor) 6/4, 6/7 (6), 6/4. C. H. Woo (Kor) beat A. Jayawickrema (SL) 6/2, 6/3.

Boys Doubles quarter finals: A. Mairpradit and R. Somroop (Thai) beat C. H. Kim (Kor) and Manider Sinh (Ind) 6/1, 6/2. S. J. Paladugu (Ind) and C. H. Woo (Kor) beat S. Alamadar and J. N. Lamphun (Thai) 6/2, 6/4.

A. Jayawickrema and T. Dineshkanthan (SL) beat A. Alla and V. Ramesh (Ind). S. Sivakumar and V. Tirumurti (Ind) beat D. Rennhak and M. Shamsi (Pak) 6/4, 6/1.

Girls Singles semifinals: A. Muttiah (SL) beat Z. A. Sajjad (Ind) 6/4, 2/6, 6/4. D. Mandava (Ind) beat P. Chinsakchai (Thai) 2/6, 6/4, 6/3.

Girls Doubles: Z. A. Sajjad and T. Handa (Ind) beat P. Chinsakchai and S. Gosh (Maur) and S. Kaur (Ind) beat T. Kottuwattege (Sui) and A. Muttiah (SL) 7/5, 7/6 (5).