Potvin prevails at USTA event

Eliot Potvin, a recent graduate of Hampden Academy and a two-time state high school singles tennis champion, added two additional titles to his resume Thursday at the USTA New England Junior Sectional Championships held on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

The 18-year-old Potvin won both the 18-and-under singles and doubles championships, marking the first time in a decade a boys player has won New England titles in both draws in that age division.

Potvin was seeded seventh in the main singles draw but went undefeated in five matches to win his second New England sectional title in three years. He had won the 16-and-under crown two years ago.

After earning a berth in the quarterfinals with victories over two unseeded players – including a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 escape of Surainder Asokaraj of Acton, Mass., in the second round – Potvin knocked the Nos. 1, 4 and 2 seeds to win the championship.

Potvin upended top-seeded Marc Powers of Stamford, Conn., 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and then outlasted fourth-ranked Dan Couzens of West Hartford, Conn., in a third-set tiebreaker 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinals.

Potvin cruised past No. 2 David Anderson of Sandwich, Mass., 6-4, 6-1 in Thursday’s championship match.

Potvin and Eric Rothschild of Westport, Conn., were unseeded in the doubles field, but used an opening-round 8-3 pro-set victory over second-ranked Garrett Lane of Reading, Mass., and Akash Muppidi of Trumbull, Conn., as the springboard to their championship.

Two wins over unseeded teams advanced Potvin and Rothschild to the doubles final, where they knocked off top-seeded Couzens and Jake Toole of Sharon, Mass., 8-5.

Potvin was one several Maine junior players to have success at the New England sectional. Top-ranked Camille Jania of Scarborough won the 18-and-under girls’ singles title, while reigning Maine schoolboy singles champion Mike Hill of Topsham and Mount Ararat High School won the consolation final of the boys 16-and-under division after advancing to the quarterfinals of the main draw.

Alex Steinroeder of Cape Elizabeth, ranked second in the boys’ 14-and-unders, finished as the runnerup in that division, while Kasia Jania of Scarborough won the consolation draw of the girls 14-and-under division.

Potvin, who finished second in the state schoolboy singles tournament as a freshman at Hampden and won that title as a sophomore and junior, opted to train privately this year. He currently is gearing up for some of the summer’s major junior tournaments, including the USTA National Clay Court Championships at Delray Beach, Fla., in mid-July and the USTA National Championships at Kalamazoo, Mich., in August.

Potvin will join the tennis program at Georgia Tech this fall.