Jan. 2, 2011
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech senior Eliot Potvin reached the finals in singles and teamed with fellow senior Ryan Smith to make the doubles finals, highlighting a successful week of competition for Yellow Jackets players in the Tech Holiday Tennis Classic at the Bill Moore Tennis Center, which ended Friday.
Potvin, the 8th seed, reached the championship match in singles before falling to the top seed, Robbye Poole, ranked among the top 500 players in the ATP worldwide rankings, 6-3, 6-4. Along the way, Potvin defeated 4th-seeded Wil Spencer of Georgia, a USTA regional champion during the fall season, 7-5, 6-4, in the semifinals.
Potvin and Poole encountered one another again in the doubles finals. Potvin and Smith, one of the top 60 doubles teams in the collegiate rankings, advanced to the championship match where they lost a close contest (6-4, 7-6) against the top-seeded duo of Poole and Donald Young, and Atlanta pro who is No. 127 in the ATP singles rankings.
Meanwhile, Tech junior Kevin King, ranked among the top 100 collegiate players in singles and seeded 5th, reached the quarterfinals of the event before falling to No. 3 Ben Rogers, 6-2, 6-4. He also was seeded 5th in doubles, where he made the semifinals before falling to Poole and Young, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.
“It was another successful tournament with good support from our local tennis fans,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “Eliot, Ryan and Kevin all won some good matches and showed they are ready to not just compete well with the best competition but win. Eliot was poised and competed very well in making the finals. I like how all our guys competed. This tournament allows them to take good strong match play into the beginning of the season. It basically toughens them up after the holidays.”
Tech opens its dual season Jan. 16 at home against USC Upstate.
