British number seven Jodie Burrage put in a good performance against Coco Gauff but failed to cause a major shock as she exited the Australian Open in the second round.

The 25-year-old Burrage lost 6-3, 7-5 to the third-seeded American at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.

Burrage, ranked 173rd in the world, had a chance to take the game to the decider when she served for the second set at 5-3.

But a poor serving game that ended with a double fault on the first of two break points allowed Gauff to reassert her authority.

Even though Burrage didn’t take advantage of her chance to win at least a set against one of the best players in the world, she can still reflect proudly on how she revived her career.

Burrage has been plagued by injuries and after missing another six months last year, she considered retiring.

Wrist and ankle injuries left Burrage unaware of “how much of a fight” she had left.

But out of love for the sport, she persevered and delivered one of the best victories of her career against French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean in the first round in Melbourne.

The reward was meeting 2023 US Open champion Gauff on one of the sport’s biggest stages.

While previous performances on Center Court at Wimbledon and at the US Open’s Louis Armstrong Stadium were underwhelming, Burrage coped well against the 20-year-old after another slow start.

The Englishwoman showed the courage to fight back after a loss in the second set, winning four games in a row, but failed when the unlikely chance arose to force a decider.

Gauff’s relief at the straight-set win was evident in the message she subsequently wrote on the on-court camera lens: “Go low.”

Moments later, she added in her on-court interview: “It was tough, she was serving really well, so I just tried to make it work.”

“She really stepped up her level halfway through the second set, so I just tried to be offensive when I could.”