Hitchin Tennis Club's fifth team secured promotion on the final day of the Datchworth summer league.

Sarah Custance's team, who have blazed a trail this season with their commitment to giving women and men equal opportunities to play, finished second in Division 7A after a 2-1 victory against Kimpton 7s on Monday. 

The Datchworth summer league's traditional format is for 2 men and 1 woman to play on each team, but captain Custance has fielded 2 women and 1 man in half of Hitchin 5s' fixtures to ensure that all players in her squad, regardless of sex, had the same opportunities to play. 

And it clearly has not hampered their competitiveness, with Hitchin 5s now set to step up to Division 6 next season. Monday's promotion-clinching team consisted of Kim Burke, Bill Sellick and Lyn Papworth. 

On a successful night for Hitchin, the third team also won 2-1 to secure their place in Division 3B next season. Seeing out their season against Kimpton 2s at Bancroft Gardens, captain Suji Owen and Andy Morrison won the opening set 9-4, only for Owen's back injury – from which she only recently returned to action – to flare up in the second set, which Hitchin lost 7-6. Morrison and James Harris easily completed the victory however, winning the decider 10-3.

Hitchin 2s rounded off a strong end to their season with a 2-1 home win against Codicote 3s, leapfrogging their opponents to take 4thplace in Division 3A on games-difference after both teams finished on 22 sets. Having flirted with relegation earlier in the season, captain Jack Grove took great satisfaction in achieving "pure mid-league heaven".

In Division 1, the first team suffered a 2-1 defeat away against Pirton. Team captain Claire Morrison and club captain Andrew Roupany won the first set on a tie-break but Morrison and Paul Morris narrowly lost the second 8-5, despite taking a 4-2 lead. Roupany and Morris were easily beaten in the men's doubles as Pirton took the victory. 

Hitchin 6s narrowly missed out on promotion from Division 8A after Knebworth 7s beat divisional champions St Margaretsbury 2-1. The result allowed Knebworth to leapfrog Hitchin and seal second place by a single set. 

Datchworth Tennis League has been named Competition of the Year in the County 2023 LTA Tennis Awards.