WIMMERA junior tennis stars Steffi and Sacha McDonald came away with a third-place finish at the Foundation Cup Interstate Challenge in Melbourne on Thursday night.
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The two players were part of the four-girl under-13 Victorian team at the tournament.
Playing against other state teams, the pair who are not related spent the week at Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club.
As reported in the Mail-Times on Friday, the Victorian team made it to a third-place playoff match after a string of tight results during the week.
In a tough re-match with first-round conqueror South Australia, Victoria eventually emerged with a thrilling 4-7-46 to 2-3-47 win on Thursday night.
Three of the four rubbers Victoria won were provided by the duo, who each turned around first-round losses to their South Australian opponents.
Steffi beat Kara Tscharke in straight sets after losing to her in a tie-break on Monday, while Sacha eventually overcame South Australia's Sarah Edwards.
The pair also won their doubles rubber in a tight 8-7 scrap to give Victoria the upper hand.
Sacha's mother Cath McDonald said the girls improved their play during the tournament. "There were ups and downs, but they did improve as they went along," she said.
"Sacha only lost one set for the tournament so she came away feeling like she'd done her job.
"The girl she lost to in the first round she beat in the final, and there was only one girl Steffi didn't beat so you can't do much better than that.
"It would have been nice to play off for first, which they nearly did, but it was really good that they both came off with wins in the last match and got third."
Sacha will suit up for Victoria again this week, but it will be as a basketball player.
She will be part of the Basketball Victoria Country team at the Southern Cross Challenge in Melbourne.