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British number seven Jodie Burrage gave a good account of herself against Coco Gauff but was unable to cause a seismic shock as she exited the Australian Open in the second round.
Burrage, 25, lost 6-3 7-5 to the American third seed in Wednesday's night session on Rod Laver Arena.
Burrage, ranked 173rd in the world, had the chance to take the match into a decider when she served for the second set at 5-4.
But a poor service game, which ended with a double fault on the first of two break points, allowed Gauff to reassert her authority.
While not taking her opportunity to win at least a set against one of the world's best will sting, Burrage can reflect proudly on how she has revived her career.
Burrage has been beset by injuries and, after missing another six months last year, she contemplated retirement.
Wrist and ankle injuries left Burrage not knowing "how much fight" she had left.
But she persevered because of her love for the sport and delivered one of the finest wins of her career against French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean in the Melbourne first round.
The reward was the meeting with 2023 US Open champion Gauff on one of the sport's biggest stages.
While previous appearances on Wimbledon's Centre Court and the US Open's Louis Armstrong Stadium were chastening, Burrage settled well against the 20-year-old after another slow start.
The Briton showed courage to fight back from a break down in the second set, but cracked when the unlikely chance of forcing a decider appeared.
Gauff's relief at winning in two sets was illustrated with the message she wrote on the on-court camera lens afterwards: "Digging deep."
Speaking in her on-court interview moments later, she added: "It was tough, she was serving really well so I was just trying to manage that.
"She really stepped her level up in the middle of the second set so I was just trying to be offensive when I could."
