Portugal Colonial - Collins to 'walk away proud' after Australian Open defeat

The 27th seeded American was a huge underdog against the top seed but unexpectedly raced 5-1 clear in the second set and looked destined to take the championship match into a decider.

But Barty somehow fought back, reeling off four games in a row to force a tiebreaker and win 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) to deny the 28-year-old.

"Not the result that I wanted obviously, but I gave it my best effort. I did everything that I could. I was pushed to the max, and I gave myself a chance there in the end," she said.

"Unfortunately it didn't go my way, but I did everything I could, and that's all you can do at the end of the day."

Despite losing, the all-action American will break into the top 10 for the first time when the new rankings are released next week.

Her run in Melbourne capped a remarkable career turnaround since emergency surgery last year for endometriosis -- where the tissue that lines the womb grows outside of it.

It removed debilitating pain and she has won her first two WTA titles and made a maiden Grand Slam final since going under the knife.

And Collins has achieved much of this without a coach.

"I really am having to coach myself. I think I went in with the right game plan. I did everything I could, but unfortunately there were some things that were just not working for me," she said.

"That's really hard technically if you're not in a good place physically to be able to get yourself to do those things.

"Today my body wasn't always agreeing with me, and I was in a little bit of a fight with my body, which is to be expected when you go this far in a tournament.

"You know, I think my assessment was generally pretty good. I think there are some areas I need to improve. I can certainly walk away proud without having a coach and kind of doing it on my own."

Collins was at her hard-hitting best this past fortnight, winning consecutive matches from a set down -- against Clara Tauson and Elise Mertens -- for the first time at a major.

She was then merciless in straight sets defeats of Alize Cornet and seventh seed Iga Swiatek, with her intense focus on strength and fitness in the off-season paying off.

A.F.Rosado--PC