NATCHEZ &045; Darla Vincent barely had time to catch her breath and drain some Pedialyte, much less enjoy her 8.5 doubles championship with partner Suzan Houge, before returning to the court at Duncan Park for a 7.5 mixed doubles match alongside Kevin Flowers Sunday.

A win and an hour and change later, though, Vincent wiped her brow to celebrate an exhausting, yet satisfying, 24th annual AmSouth Bank Natchez Cancer Tennis Tournament.

&uot;I was fighting nerves the whole time,&uot; Vincent said. &uot;When I get nervous my toss kind of gets haywire. But I got it together&uot; and was able to win twice.

Compared to her marathon 8.5 first-place match with Hogue against familiar opponents Jill Joseph and Mary Ruth Caldwell

&045; the four can be found daily swinging away on courts in the area &045; Vincent’s 6-3, 6-2 win with fellow Natchez-native Flowers over Mike Gross of Memphis, Tenn., and Donna Duhon of Lake Charles, La., was a bat of the eyes.

Other local winners included Lisa Dale and Karen Jones, who teamed to win the 5.5 women’s doubles crown; Frankie Spence and Talton Trickey, who were a perfect 3-0 in Round Robin competition of men’s 8.5 doubles; Derek Pyron joined forces with McComb’s Sam Mims for the men’s 7.5 doubles over Ralph LeMay and Robert Dunn, another pair of locals; Spence capture his second top finish with Caldwell in 8.5 mixed; and Vincent Washington and Karen Jones closed the tournament with a thrilling three-set win, which included two tiebreaks, for the 6.5 title.

Hogue, co-organizer of the event with Noreen Pyron, and Vincent dropped the opening set 2-6 to Caldwell and Joseph, as both sets of team found it awkward staring at sudden enemies across the net

&uot;The control of the game went back and forth the whole match,&uot; Hogue said. &uot;We’ve been playing together, off and on, for a couple years now. Your always fighting tooth and nail to get a point&uot; playing against friends.

As Hogue warmed with the sun’s steady beam, so did her teamwork with Vincent. They captured the second 6-4, and gutted out a third-set tiebreak 7-4.

A flushed Hogue accepted the applause of the fans, who sat in the shade of an oak tree, gathered her rackets into her bag and rushed to the desk to log in scores.

&uot;We love this tournament,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s almost 25 years old now, and it’s a great week for everybody to have a good time. It directs attention toward a good cause and we’re trying to put a stronger focus on what we give than in the past.&uot;

Pyron agreed, and expects, with around 30 more entrants, to well exceed the $6,200 raised from the 2002 rendition.

&uot;Everything seem to go very smoothly,&uot; Pyron said. &uot;I had a lot of out-of-towners tell me how well everything went.&uot;

Unquestionably, with parties on Friday and Saturday night visitors enjoyed themselves throughout the weekend.

It just part of the reason the annual affair attracts between 150-200 players every year.

&uot;Everybody talks up this tournament in other towns,&uot; Hogue said. &uot;We try and give a lot to the players through parties and breakfast &045; players usually don’t get that at tournaments. We try to cater to the players and let them have a good time.&uot;

Vincent said on a pressure-free day, she’s certain the four on the court for the 8.5 final would have coasted around the errors made Sunday.

&uot;Since the tournament is here, you end up playing a lot of Natchez people, but it was interesting we ended up playing such close friends,&uot; Vincent said. &uot;It could’ve gone either way, and fortunately we got lucky.&uot;