NATCHEZ &8212; Championship Sunday at the 27th annual Natchez Community Cancer Tennis Tournament didn&8217;t disappoint for some local players.

And for the first time in several years, a good mix of local and out-of-area teams had the opportunity to call themselves champions in both the main draw and the consolation draw in their respective divisions.

In the all-Natchez women&8217;s 3.5 doubles finals, the top-seeded team of Emily Eidt and Sally Jones defeated unseeded Peggy Mayberry and Louise Mallory in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

&8220;It was a great match,&8221; Eidt said. &8220;It was good to have two Natchez teams in it. What&8217;s interesting is that Sally and Peggy are usually partners. It was competitive and fun.&8221;

In the women&8217;s 4.0 doubles finals, the top-seeded team of Melissa Auler of Lafayette, La., and Claudette Talley of Scott, La., defeated Carla Hebert and Catherine Luc, also from Lafayette, 6-1, 6-4.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the day occurred in the women&8217;s 3.0 doubles finals as unseeded Judy Quimby of Ferriday and Betty Simmons of Natchez defeated No. 2-seeded Susan Kettering of Hattiesburg and Katie Mahony of Daphne, Ala., 6-2, 7-5.

&8220;It was very exciting. We had to win,&8221; Simmons said. &8220;We are sister-in-laws. Susan and Katie are sisters. It was very competitive. The main thing was to play and have a lot of fun.&8221;

&8220;Even though the first set didn&8217;t look that way,&8221; Quimby said. &8220;We knew they were going to wake up. We were just so glad to win. We&8217;ve been runners-up a couple of times.&8221;

The women&8217;s 4.0 doubles consolation final, the last match of the day, turned out to be a competitive match. Mary Ruth Caldwell of Vidalia and Jackie Handjis of Natchez rallied from an early 0-2 deficit to defeat Suzan Hogue and Nancy Laird, also from Vidalia, in the first set, 7-6 (3). The first set alone took over an hour to play.

The second set took just as long as it, too, went to a tiebreaker. Caldwell and Handjis won it as well, 7-6 (3).

It was also a good day for Ashleigh Welch-Curtis of Canton and Jonna Welch of Brandon. First, they defeated Robbie Clark of Centreville and Patricia Dickens of Natchez in the women&8217;s 3.5 doubles consolation finals, 7-5, 6-1.

Then in a must-win situation, they held on to defeat Lisa Dale and Joe Garrity, both from Natchez, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7). That head-to-head win gave them the win in mixed 6.0 doubles after both teams finished with three points.

In the women&8217;s 3.0 doubles consolation finals, Amy Jones and Jennifer Wimberly, both of Natchez, defeated Pam Sones and Connita Riggs, both of Jonesville, 6-2, 6-2.

In the men&8217;s 4.0 doubles finals, No. 1-seeded John Amoss and Benjamin Ward of New Orleans defeated second-seeded Peter Dale and Michael Flowers of Natchez, 7-5, 6-4.

William Argue and Phillip Davis of Natchez defeated Richard Baron of Lafayette and Joe Martin of Broussard, La., to win the finals in men&8217;s 3.5 doubles, 6-4, 6-3. Martin injured his knee during the second set but continued playing.

&8220;They were consistent,&8221; Argue said. &8220;We had to change our game plan. We had to play a control game. They had a lot of wide-angle shots. We had to wait them out. We had to persevere and wear them down.&8221;

Tournament director Noreen Pyron noted that while proceeds from this tournament go the Duncan Park tennis facilities, the Natchez Community Tennis Association makes a donation to the American Cancer Society.

Pyron said they hope to raise $5,000 but noted it may or may not happen because the numbers have been down the last few years.

In the mixed 8.0 doubles finals, Jennifer Smith of Fayette, another one of the younger participants in this year&8217;s tournament and a graduate of ACCS, and Ralph Lemay of Natchez defeated Carla Hebert of Lafayette and Paulo Teixeira of Memphis, Tenn., in three sets, 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7).

Flowers and Darla Vincent of Natchez defeated Caldwell and Troy LeBlanc of Lafayette, 6-3, 6-2 in the mixed 8.0 consolation.

In the mixed 7.0 doubles finals, Patrick Brown and Lee Carney of Ridgeland beat the Natchez team of Mayberry and Matthew Brough, 6-2, 6-2.

In the mixed 7.0 consolation finals, top seed Betsy Hungerford and L. Keith Futrell, both from Natchez, defeated Welch and Danny Myrick of Flowood, 6-2, 6-3.