ESSEX men’s and women’s tennis teams both secured promotion after success at the five-day Aegon County Week tournament.

The men took top spot Men’s Group Three in Frinton on rubbers won after finishing on eight points with runners-up Cambridgeshire.

And the ladies finished second behind champions Middlesex in Ladies Group Three at Surbiton to secure promotion to Group Two next summer.

Among the men’s team were Southend players Rob Carter and Ryan Peniston, and Westcliff Hard’s Richard Barham.

The men started their week with a 5-4 win over Leicestershire and then thumped West of Scotland and Cheshire 9-0.

A 5-4 win over North of Scotland was followed by Essex’s only defeat, a 6-3 reverse to Cambridgeshire.

Essex’s ladies started with a 5-4 defeat to Nottingham but bounced back by beating North of Scotland 8-1. A 6-3 victory over West of Scotland was followed by an 8-1 triumph over Sussex.

The ladies finished with a 4-2 to defeat to Middlesex.

Simon Harston, Marshall Tutu, David Wright, James Caddies and Richard Wire completed the men’s team.

Helen Parish, Amanda Wainwright, Shanon Newnes, Alexandra Jones, Aimee Gibson, Marie Ba, Eva Dench, Sian Green and Carys Gilbert made up the promotion-winning ladies team.