Youth tennis: Dixon’s Lance, Ferguson win 18 girls doubles division at Emma Hubbs Classic

DIXON – For a while, it was too close to call. When the final rounds began for the 18-&-under Girls Doubles division at the 33rd annual Emma Hubbs Tennis Classic at Page Park, three teams had a chance to win it.

But at the end of a hot, humid, Thursday afternoon, only one team could claim first place.

Ultimately, the winners were Rachel Lance and Grace Ferguson, two Dixon High School students.

[ Photos from Day 4 of the Emma Hubbs Tennis Classic ]

With 12 games won in the five-team, round-robin tournament, they hoisted their first-place trophies after edging out the second- and third-place teams by the thinnest of margins.

“I feel pretty good [about winning the tournament],” Lance said. “It was really close.”

In such a tightly-contested tournament, consistency made all the difference.

“I think staying consistent, placing the ball well and having a lot of depth [were key for us],” Ferguson said.

The top three teams all finished within two points of each other – and within one point of the next-closest team on the leaderboard. Newman students Emily Beattie and Julia Rhodes, the second-place finishers, won 11 games. Dixon’s Brooklyn Arjes and Leah Stees, the third-place finishers, totaled 10 games won.

Fareeda Alkhalaf and Jenna Mustapha, who both played in the 15 Mixed Doubles division Wednesday, came in fourth place with six games won, and Maria Ardis and Jessica Ardis finished in fifth place with one game won.

During the six-week period of lessons, the players were able to refine their skills and get themselves tournament-ready. For Ferguson and Lance, that meant focusing primarily on their serves.

“I worked on serves a lot, making sure I was following through and getting a lot of height in there,” Ferguson said. “And then for ground strokes, making sure I had more top-spin and stuff like that.”

“For serves, I was working on more accuracy versus my second serve – it’s a lot lighter than my first serve – so I was just trying to get a little more accurate there,” Lance said. “And then ground strokes, same thing: accuracy, placement.”

Three other divisions also hit the courts Thursday. In the 18 Boys Doubles Division, Bashar Elbzour and Kaiser Khawaja won 11 games to nip Ryan Partington and Logan Palmer (10 games won) for the title. Joel Rhodes and Hiram Zigler won eight games to take third, and Yamaan Alkhalaf and Sawyer Zuithoff won seven games for fourth.

Rhodes won the 15 Boys Singles division with 14 games won, while second place came down to a tiebreaker after Jubraan Alkhalaf and Alex Dang both won 13 games; Alkhalaf won the tiebreaker 7-4. Aaron Rivera won 11 games to finish fourth, William Wright won nine games for fifth, and Brooks Knudson also competed.

The final day of competition started with Four-Square. Parker Brigl finished first, Kelvin Bowers was second, Oliver Shaddick took third, and Adam Mustapha finished fourth. Bria Ballard, Gunnar Connolly, Lila Reuter and Margaret Shaddick also played.