By Kim J. Harmon

Some of the very best tennis talent in the area converged this past weekend on Dickinson Park for the semi-finals and finals of the Fleet 200 Newtown Tennis Open – one of two main tournaments sponsored by the Newtown Tennis Association.

And it was Akash Lamba on the men’s side and Deborah Eddy on the women’s side who came away with the Open Singles championships on Sunday in front of one of the NTA’s largest galleries in years.

The semi-finals of the men’s Open Singles draw on Saturday read like a Who’s Who of local tennis stars, with a quartet of ranked players – Lamba, Ritush Venugopal, Joe Bouquin and Bob Elliott – vying for the championship. Lamba, Venugopal, Bouquin and Elliott were the top four seeds in the men’s draw.

And, of course, there were no slouches on the women’s side, either, with No. 1 seed Julie Sanderude battling Linda Hatcher on one court and Eddy battling Judy Toth on the other.

It made for a fantastic weekend of tennis.

Lamba earned the men’s Open Singles title with a 6-2, 6-1 win over his friend and doubles partner, Venugopal. It was an easier win this time for Lamba, who got by Venugopal 6-3, 7-5 to capture the Open Singles title in 1999.

Lamba reached the finals with a win on Saturday over Bouquin.

Sanderude, the No. 1 seed, was surprised by Eddy, 6-1, 6-0. Eddy had advanced to the final with a win over Toth while Sanderude advanced with a win over Hatcher. Watchers had expected Sanderude to win the title since two of the other top three seeds, Kristin McNiff and Holly Robinson, didn’t make it to the semi-finals.

But Eddy had other ideas.

In other matches:

Women’s 40 Singles – No. 2 seed Diane Gucciardo defeated Jana Barry 6-0, 6-0.

Women’s Doubles – No. 2 seeds Laura McConnell and Julie Sanderude defeated No. 1 seeds Shirley Avril and Betsy Reid 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s 40 Doubles – No. 1 seeds Kathy Gibson and Virginia Payne defeated No. 2 seeds Susan Arconti and Joyce Lee 7-5, 6-3.

Men’s 40 Singles – No. seed Owen Robertson defeated No. 2 seed Ward Januzzi 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Men’s 55 Singles – No. 3 seed Ferdinand Starbuck defeated No. 2 seed Bill Schmid 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

Men’s Doubles – No. 1 seeds Akash Lamba and Ritush Venugopal defeated No. 3 seeds Bob Elliott and Owen Robertson 6-0, 6-1.

Men’s 40 Doubles – No. 1 seeds Joe Bouquin and Ward Januzzi defeated No. 4 seeds Carl Bailey and Mariano Moran 6-2, 6-2.

Men’s 55 Doubles – Jack Schrier and George Mpazicos outlasted Fred Luedke and Wayne McCormack in the longest match of the weekend 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).