ONE of the region's fastest-rising tennis stars has matched it with Australia's best players at the annual December Showdown in Melbourne.
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Gunnedah Tennis Club's Vitorio Sardinha represented NSW at the week-long tournament, claiming a fifth-place finish in the under-14 boys singles competition and a semi-final finish in the doubles.
Sardinha fought back from being 5-1 down in the first set of his first match, before going on to win the set 7-5 and the match in straight sets.
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Up against the tournament's fourth seed in the second match, Sardinha pulled out all the stops to win in straight sets.
The third round proved to be more of the same for Sardinha, when he took down the tournament's seventh seed to claim a fourth-round berth.
However, the fourth round was where the St Mary's College student's run came to an end, as he was eliminated.
Sardinha's coach Craig Louis said his young charge had exceeded his own expectations.
"I know Vitorio was going into the tournament aiming to win just one match, so for him to go as well as he did was just amazing," Louis said.
"Once he got those first few wins under his belt, we really tried hard to keep him focused because we felt he could go really far in the tournament.
"He proved us right and really did himself proud as well."
Sardinha's efforts were recognised on day five of the tournament, when he received the KIA Driven award for commitment.
"From our perspective, it was nice to see all of the hard work Vitorio had put in over the past 12 months really pay off," Louis said.
"Vitorio is really driven.
"He sets himself realistic goals and really works hard to do whatever he can to achieve them.
"There's no doubt the support he receives from his parents, Wellington and Caroline, is invaluable to his improvement."
Louis said Sardinha's success in both the singles and doubles competitions would be vital to his overall Australian ranking.
"His goal was to get under the 700 mark in 2019 and he has managed to get under that now," he said.
"Currently he is sitting at number 551 in Australia, number 4 in his age group in NSW and at number 12 for his age group in Australia.
"This experience at nationals was fantastic for Vitorio; it gave him valuable experience and valuable ranking points."
Vitorio will now turn his attention to several summer tournaments before starting school with St Josephs College in Sydney next year.
"We will certainly miss having him around Gunnedah, but it will be great to have him here on school holidays and things like that," Louis said.
"I really think Vitorio is only just starting to discover how good a player he can be.
"He's always been so good with his hands and our main focus of training has been adding variety to his game.
"As his continues to get stronger, those skills will become even sharper and that variety will take him a long way."