Sharmal takes first round in the stride
Current Junior National Champion Sharmal Dissanayake took a commanding stride toward defending his title as he dismantled a Dasun
Action at the Junior Tennis National at Greenpath yesterday. (Pic by Amila Gamage)
Fonseka who was out of his depth, with a frighteningly clinical 6-0, 6-0 bashing on the first day of the 98th Junior Tennis Nationals at the SLTA Courts yesterday.
Dissanayake though was not at his best on the day and was guilty of committing several uncharacteristic errors. Nevertheless his ‘B’ game was more than adequate to get him through to the next stage of the competition given the player he is.Fonseka was never able to handle the blitz of ground strokes that rocketed off Dissanayake’s racquet but, to his merit, that did not stop him from trying and on more than a few occasions he produced some inspired strokeplay during the opening set.
However, the games were quickly flowing into Dissanayake’s pocket and an errant and weak serve from Fonseka was not helping matters. Before long the first set was gone, and the second and, by this time clearly final one, began with Dissanayake once again fizzing winners down both the forehand and backhand wings.
Things might have finished just a bit faster if not for a few botched forehands played on the full. But Dissanayake’s victory was never of any doubt on the day, and he quickly dispatched of Fonseka in under an hour. In some of the tournament’s other matches, Joshua Moraes beat Hasith Balapatabendi 6-2, 6-2, in the Under 18 age group while Anul Dheerasinghe beat Sanuda Amasith 7-4 and Basitha Fernando overcame Ismail Azeer 7-0 in the Under 14 age group. In the Under 12 category, Nipun Gabadage beat Randev Seneviratne 7-2 and Rakesh Ratnasingam triumphed over Januda Jayasekera 7-2.
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