Janali Manamperi and Hasali Gajaba have both reached the women’s Open singles final of the Yeti Hard Court National Tennis Championship, setting up an all-Sri Lankan title match at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts at Greenpath, Colombo.
Manamperi beat Jennifer Mercy 6/1, 6/3 in one semifinal, while Gajaba came through against Diyansa de Silva 6/1, 7/6, the Daily Mirror reported. Both won in straight sets.
Two rounds in a single day
The semifinals were played on Friday, hours after both players had come through their quarterfinals on the same courts that morning. Manamperi beat Gehansa Methnadi and Gajaba beat Eranya Rahulan, each also by two sets to love.
Neither finalist has therefore dropped a set in the two rounds, and Gajaba’s 7/6 second set against de Silva — decided on a tiebreak — is the only set either was taken close in. The final is scheduled for Saturday.
Not reported
The filing gives game scores only for the semifinals; the quarterfinal results are recorded as two-set wins without the individual games. It does not give a start time for the final, name the men’s Open finalists or report the other title deciders at the championship, and carries no comment from either player or from the SLTA.
It does not say whether Manamperi and Gajaba have met before at this level, or who is the higher-ranked of the two.
This is the second domestic SLTA event at Greenpath that LankaNewz has covered this season, after five Sri Lankans reached the semifinals of the Colombo ATF Under-16 tournament in October. No player named in that draw appears in this one.
Sources: Daily Mirror.
