Youth tennis: Elbzour, Rivera team up to take 15 Mixed Doubles title

DIXON – Meerna Elbzour was trying to figure out who she could play mixed doubles with Wednesday morning at the Emma Hubbs Tennis Classic. So she got in touch with Aaron Rivera.

He was more than happy to team up, and the duo went on to win first place in the 15 Mixed Doubles division at Page Park in Dixon.

[ Photos from Day 3 at the Emma Hubbs Tennis Classic in Dixon ]

After a brief thunderstorm forced a delay to start play, Elbzour and Rivera won all three of their matches 6-2 to take the title.

“I didn’t really have anybody else I knew that I could play with, so I wanted to ask Aaron if we could play together,” Elbzour said. “It was pretty fun.”

“It was pretty thrilling that she called me,” Rivera said. “We were working on our fence, and when we finished that and were going inside, I saw my phone and said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a message. Oh, tennis – sure! Why not?’”

The two had never played doubles together before, but clicked from the start. They defeated Rachel Lance and Joel Rhodes, then topped Jenna Mustapha and Gavin Staats before a final victory over siblings Fareeda and Jubraan Alkhalaf.

One of the key sequences in their final match came when Elbzour chased down a shot in the backcourt after Rivera had tried to leap up and hit it at the net; he ended up falling to the court, but Elbzour got the return shot in and they won the point.

“When I saved the ball after Aaron fell on the court, that was pretty good. It got us a big point,” Elbzour said.

Rivera said his play improved throughout the morning, and he was happy to be peaking in the final match.

“My serve was pretty good at the end, which allowed us to finish the game off,” he said. “And my forehand got a lot better at the end, as well.”

Neither Elbzour or Rivera thought they’d walk away with the first-place trophy when the day started, but both gained confidence in their chances as play progressed.

“I wasn’t very confident, because I thought we were going to lose to Fareeda and Jubraan when I first saw them play today,” Elbzour said. “But we played well together.”

“At the start, I didn’t feel very good about it, but we played really well,” Rivera said. “All I have is second-place trophies, so first place is very nice.”

After Mustapha and Staats retired from their final match due to injury, Elbzour and Rivera finished first and were credited with 12 games won. Lance and Rhodes took second with eight games won, topping the Alkhalafs 6-2 after the loss to Elbzour and Rivera.

Lance and Rhodes had previous experience as doubles partners, and played to their strengths to earn the runner-up finish in the division.

“We worked together well, we recovered. We did OK at net, and baseline was OK, too,” Lance said. “We just didn’t really worry about the score in the moment, just kind of played and worried about the score later.”

“She’s left-handed, so we can play double-forehanded, which is nice. We can play different formations, switch things up,” Rhodes added. “We recovered after losing our first game, that was probably our best thing that we did today. Other than that, I think my net game was pretty good today, too.”

The Alkhalafs took third, credited with four games won; they did defeat Mustapha and Staats 7-1 in their head-to-head match.

In the other division Wednesday, Grace Ferguson won the 18 girls singles title with 22 games won. Brooklyn Arjes was second with 11 games won, Lance took third with eight games won, and Fareeda Alkhalaf was fourth with seven games won.

On Day 2 of the Emma Hubbs Classic on Tuesday, four divisions competed. Play opened with the 6- to 8-year-olds; Oliver Shaddick scored 81 points to win the title, while Adam Mustapha was second with 44 points and Gunnar Connolly took third with 41 points. Rachel Catt finished fourth with 31 points, while other participants were Margaret Shaddick (29 points), Lucas Lance (26 points), Lila Reuter (24 points), Lola Smith (19 points), Katie Demmer (17 points) and Jackson Brigl (15 points).

In 11 girls singles, Lauren Dang won 15 games to take first place, while Anna Partington was second with 11 games won, and Parker Brigl took third with nine games won. Claire Fiesta was fourth (4 games won), and Josie Rhodes finished fifth (1 game won).

In 11 boys singles, William Dang took the title with 19 games won, while Hank Wright was second with 15 games won, and James Catt took third with 11 games won. Matthew Fiesta finished fourth (7 games won), James Adell placed fifth (5 games won), and Dean Ballard was sixth (3 games won).

The day ended with the 13 boys doubles division, as William and Hank Wright won 8-1 over Josh Stees and Roman Reynolds.