HINDHEAD’S Jodie Burrage recovered well from a slow start, but eventually lost a tight three-setter to the USA’s Elysia Bolton in the first round of the girls’ singles at Wimbledon on Monday.

The 18-year-old, regarded as one of the rising stars of British women’s tennis, lost 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 in one hour 46 minutes. Her strong serve is a big part of her game, but she only got 59 per cent of her first serves in and won just 42 per cent of points on her second serve.

The other big difference lay in the unforced error count, with 41 stray shots by Burrage as opposed to 27 by Bolton.

“It was a tough match overall. I thought she played pretty well while I was pretty up and down,” said Burrage, who was due to play doubles alongside Emily Appleton later this week.

“I got off to a good start, then let it go a bit and I did well to get it back in the second. And then the third was a couple of points here and there.

“I didn’t serve as well as I liked and she took advantage. I was defending quite a lot, which is not what I normally do.

“I’ve normally got a big serve and I use my backhand to win the points, but today I missed quite a lot of backhands at key times.”

This was Burrage’s final outing at the Wimbledon juniors and with a move to the senior circuit full time beckoning, she has already been playing most of this season a level up.

She did, however, reach the last 16 and quarter-finals of the girls’ singles and doubles respectively at the Australian Open.

Currently number 4 in the Great Britain girls U18 rankings, Jodie Burrage is a member of Elstead Tennis Club and trains at the Chiswick David Lloyd Tennis Centre.

She has received a £500 bursary from the outset of the Sport Haslemere Create a Star scheme which has successfully supported ten promising young sports people each year. Her award is named after the late Nick Chilton, the first managing director of the Haslemere Sports Association.