Jodie Burrage believes she is “only just getting started” after successfully returning to grand slam competition following a long injury layoff. The British player leaves Melbourne full of confidence after being extremely competitive with Coco Gauff in her 6-3, 7-5 second-round defeat against the third seed at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

“I’m going to take a lot of confidence from the fact that she’s No 3 in the world,” Burrage said. “I felt like I didn’t have a great start. Then I got myself back into it. The game that she broke me, I gave it to her a little bit with those volley [errors]. I’m there with her and I felt like I was in that.

“I’m just starting back from my injury layoff so I think it’s really positive. I’ve got to see it like that because if you had said this to me three, four months ago I would have taken it for sure, both hands. A lot of things that I could have improved, but also a lot of confidence taken from it.”

Burrage had a difficult start against Gauff, falling 3-0 down, but gradually worked her way into the match by demonstrating her heavy, potent groundstrokes throughout the second set. Burrage served for the second set at 5-3 before becoming nervous and lost the final four games of the match.

“I really felt like I should have taken that second,” Burrage said. “I feel like it would have been interesting to see a third set to see if I could carry that on. But this is the level that I want to be playing and this is the level that I think I can be playing. It’s the start of the year. We are three weeks in and I feel like I’m in a good spot. So as long as I can stay on the court, I’m excited to see what this year brings.”

The Australian Open marked Burrage’s first grand slam tournament in a year, after a nightmare 2024 season during which she had wrist surgery before tearing ankle ligaments just as she was returning to competition. Burrage was ranked No 85 last year before falling as low as No 332 following her six-month layoff.

Under significant pressure to take advantage of her protected ranking, which provides players with limited number of opportunities to enter tournaments using their pre‑injury ranking after an injury layoff, Burrage secured an excellent 6-2, 6-4 first‑round win against Leolia Jeanjean. The 25-year-old will return to the top 150 after the tournament.

“I’m very happy,” Burrage said. “I will take the highs and the lows of this sport, but I’m not done with it yet. I feel like I’m only just getting started. I’ve just got to keep working hard and then that showed in my level the last few weeks. Really understanding the work that I put in and what I have to do, that’s what I have taken.

“Again, learning from being around these big players as well, seeing them in the gym, on the practice court. But I’m just very, very happy with how I’ve handled myself, my emotions and the level that I’ve managed to put out on the court so early in my return from my injury.”

The British No 4 Harriet Dart could not build on a strong start as she lost against the 18th seed Donna Vekic. Dart made the most of her second opportunity after being given a lucky loser spot to beat the qualifier Jana Fett in a gruelling first-round match.

Fett’s fellow Croatian Vekic was a step up in class but Dart produced some of her best tennis to win the opening set before eventually being defeated 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.