A fantastic two weeks for Katie Swan ended with defeat in the Australian Open girls’ singles final to Tereza Mihalikova.
After a gruelling three-set win in the semi-final on Friday, Swan suffered with a groin injury and had to take a medical timeout during the 6-1, 6-4 loss on the Rod Laver Arena.
The British junior No.1 was aiming to become the fourth Brit to lift the title after Sue Barker, two-time winner Amanda Brown and Annabel croft.
Katie Swan by Getty Images
Swan, 15, was 3-0 up in the second set when the leg injury really started to trouble her and Slovakian Mihalikova fought back to seal the match after one hour and 29 minutes with a forehand winner.
After the match, Swan said: “It's actually been crazy. There have been so many people that sent me messages, tweeting, Facebook, Instagram.
"Everybody has been so supportive from my home in England and Wichita, Kansas. It's been amazing.
"Obviously my best tournament I've ever played. I'm really pleased with the way I've been playing this week. I hope that there are a lot more tournaments like this for me.
“I actually started to feel my groin at the middle of the first set, and then it got worse and worse throughout. I didn't have much time to recover from yesterday, so that's part of it."
Bristol born Swan, who now lives in Kansas, joins compatriot Laura Robson as runner-up in Australia with Robson making the 2009 and 2010 girls’ junior finals.