Anderson wraps up her 12th Northern Suburbs Tennis Association title in 15 years

MELISSA Anderson has claimed her 12th Northern Suburbs Tennis Association open championship title.

MELISSA Anderson has claimed her 12th Northern Suburbs Tennis Association open championship title and John Paul La Fou, 31, won his first.

Anderson, 29, won her first women's open title at the age of 14 in 1998 and has now won the most in the club's history.

Her opponent, Sue Woodward, 47, was aiming for her first title since 1992.

The reigning champion, from Northbridge, won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 and NSTA administrator Sue Delmege said her heavy hitting was too much for Woodward.

"Melissa is very powerful, a strong hitter and very accurate," Delmege said.

"Sue is quite an attacking player, she serve-volleys a lot. Melissa's weight of shots was probably too strong for Sue but she did amazingly well."

Anderson received her trophy from former club president Keith Horton, whose late wife Mary held the club titles record before Anderson.

La Fou took the men's open championship at the first attempt.

The tennis coach from Gordon played his friend Adrian Somerville in the final and managed to overcome a late charge to take the match in three sets 6-3 5-7 6-4.

"There are a lot of good past champions here so it's good to be among them," La Fou said.

"We both know each other extremely well, we've toured overseas together, and we both know how to be very consistent so it was just that I was able to be that little bit better on the day."

Delmege said the great weather had seen a good number of people turn up, including 23 time major winner Ken Rosewall, a supporter of the club.