NATCHEZ — Even though the calendar says it is now autumn, it felt more like mid-summer on Saturday during Day 1 of the 2010 Cathedral Fall Festival Tennis Tournament at Duncan Park.

Yet despite that, tournament director Beth Foster was smiling for several reasons. One was the turnout. This year there are 75 players, up from the 55-60 participants from a year ago. Another reason for smiles was that the majority of the players are from the local area.

“It’s going well so far. It’s a bigger turnout. I’m very surprised,” Foster said. “All the money raised goes to Cathedral. We have one group from the Baton Rouge area (Gonzales, La.). They came for the (Natchez) Cancer (Tennis) Tournament. They enjoyed Natchez.”

Foster added that in years past, there were people who were originally from Natchez and moved to other cities such as Brookhaven or Jackson that would play in this tournament. She then said that was not the case this year.

“Our biggest problem is we have players playing two things like men’s and mixed and women’s and mixed,” Foster said.

Foster also said that the majority of the registration forms were turned in just a week before the two-day tournament got under way.

“When I first mailed them out, hardly anyone returned them, so I started panicking. You have the (New Orleans) Saints playing and LSU playing. A lot of obligations. Some were able to break their obligations and come out and play,” Foster noted.

When the first women’s doubles matches started at 8:30 a.m., it was already well into the 70s. By 11:30 a.m., one hour after mixed doubles play began, the temperature was already in the mid-80s with a heat index in the low 90s.

Foster also said that play on Saturday would continue well into the evening as long as the weather permits. She added that in years past, the last match didn’t end until 9 p.m.

Today’s semifinal and final round matches will get under way at 8 a.m. But with rain in the forecast on Saturday night and into part of this morning, that may be changed.