PORTLAND – Mike Burke and Adam Wilding couldn’t help but think about the possibility.

The two Lewiston singles players entered Tuesday’s MPA boys singles championships pondering the likelihood of ultimately meeting each other in the title match Thursday.

“That would have been awesome,” said Wilding. “It could have happened.”

Both entered the tournament undefeated. Burke was ranked fifth and Wilding was seeded sixth. Though both reached the quarterfinals Tuesday evening, that was as far as either of them advanced.

“We had talked about it a little bit,” said Burke, “but we knew there were some pretty good opponents before that.

“It would have been nice to get to the finals. I would be a competitive match.”

Wilding lost a heartbreaker to Cape Elizabeth’s Sam Maurey in three sets. His teammate Garret Currier also advanced to the semifinals. Bangor’s Bryan Brown beat Burke while Hampden’s Eliot Potvin eliminated Dirigo’s Gabe Bedoya.

The matches were held at the Racquet & Fitness Club in Portland instead of Bates College after rain forced them indoors. The semifinals will be played Thursday at Waynflete at 12:30 p.m. If the weather alters that plan, the matches will return to the Racquet & Fitness Club.

Wilding had won the first set of his match with Maurey, 7-5. After falling behind, he rallied and had the second set within reach.

“He was actually ahead, and I came back and had two match points,” said Wilding. “I don’t know. I just blew it at the end I guess.”

Maurey, seeded third, rallied to win 7-5 and then took the final set 6-3. Wilding had been hampered by leg cramps and admitted it was the toughest match he’d seen all year.

“I knew this would be a humongous match,” he said. “I just can’t get over those two match points. It’s tough. I should have had him in the second.”

Wilding had defeated Camden’s Joey Michalakes and then beat Greely’s Matt Crommett, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

Burke fell behind the fourth-ranked Brown early and lost the first set 6-1.

“(Brown) was playing so well,” said Burke. “I was trying to do whatever I could to stay in each point. I couldn’t stay in the set. So I lost the first set.”

Burke fell behind again in the second set but rallied from a 3-0 deficit.

“Then I started to play a little more consistent,” said Burke. “I think he cooled off a little bit, and I was able to comeback and scored four straight games.”

Burke wasn’t able to sustain it though. Brown picked up the pace and closed out the second set, 6-4.

“I knew I was coming back,” said Burke. “Maybe I just got it in my head a little bit. I should have just gone one point at a time. He came back, and I think he played a little bit better to finish the set.”

Burke had beaten Biddeford’s Nick Paquette, 6-0, 6-0. He then had the afternoon off when Hermon’s Jesse Keith defaulted.

Bedoya had cruised through his matches before meeting the second-seeded Potvin.

“He played really good,” said Bedoya. “He’s really consistent and when he needs to end points, he just does it very well.”

Bedoya, an exchange student from Peru, had beaten Gorham’s Joe Flaherty, 6-0, 6-0 and then advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Biddeford’s Justin Tardiff.

Playing three matches in one day caught up with him, though. Nursing a strained muscle and unaccustomed to playing so much in one day, fatigue took its toll.

“I was playing pretty good,” said Bedoya. “So I thought I had a chance. I did my best, and that was good.”

In the preliminaries, Edward Little’s Adam Platz lost to Westbrook’s Matt Dubois, 6-3, 3-6 (7-2 tiebreaker).

[email protected]