Hitchin Tennis Club started the new Datchworth Summer League season with some encouraging victories on and off the court.

On a cold but thankfully dry and windless opening night, Hitchin hosted three home matches at Bancroft Gardens, winning two of them. 

The first team, who finished fourth in Division One last season, began the new campaign with a 2-1 victory against Welwyn, Claire Morrison's side showing their resilience by winning the first two rubbers in tiebreaks after letting early leads slip. The second of the tiebreaks was clinched with their own comeback after falling 6-3 behind, and sealed with an audacious lob that landed on the line from Joe Pengally, cheered on by the prosecco-quaffing fans in the clubhouse. Champagne tennis indeed.

Also playing at home on Monday were Hitchin 5s, captained by Sarah Custance in a match featuring teams of two women and one man – a distinction the club hope will become less noteworthy as the season progresses. Custance campaigned during the off-season for the league, which traditionally has teams made up of two men and one woman, to provide more playing opportunities for female players – and had achieved promotion from Division 7A last season fielding two women in several matches. 

At the Datchworth AGM in January the member clubs voted to tweak the rules to make it easier to field teams with two women but, perhaps more significantly, it has highlighted an inequality that had previously gone largely unrecognised.

It remains to be seen to what extent clubs across the league embrace the opportunity for change but the early signs are encouraging, with Monday's opponents, Digswell 4s, one of five opposition clubs in Division 6A so far agreeing to field two women in one of their fixtures against Hitchin 5s this season, and other teams reporting similar agreements in place. 

Hitchin 5s also did the business on the court, winning 3-0, with Lynda Papworth and Graham Paul taking the first rubber 8-5 before Custance and Paul won the second by the same scoreline. The whitewash was completed with an impressive 10-3 victory to Hitchin in the women's doubles. 

Hitchin 4s were another side who achieved promotion last season, as champions of Division 6A, but started life in the fifth tier with a chastening 3-0 defeat at Legends 3s. Ben Page and Julie Morris suffered a narrow 8-5 defeat in the first rubber, having at one stage battled back to 6-5 from 5-2 down, but the Legends captain's dominance at the net proved the decisive factor.

After losing the second 9-4, and with the Legends coach prowling the sidelines ordering teams to hurry up their matches because there were no floodlights, Hitchin revealed a stubborn streak, skipper Andy Proudlove and Page forcing a tiebreak in the final rubber. However, their raging against the dying of the light only succeeded in delaying a 7-6 defeat. 

Hitchin 2s enjoyed an impressive 3-0 away victory against Codicote 4s in Division 3A, but Hitchin 3s narrowly lost 2-1 to Watton's first team in Division 3B. Hitchin 6s lost 3-0 to Tewin's first team in Division 7B.

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