Burrage takes major positives from battling LTA's Rothesay Open defeat

Jodie Burrage took significant positives from a spirited performance against an opponent ranked almost 200 places above her at the LTA's Rothesay Open Nottingham. Burrage, who is on the LTA's Pro Scholarship Programme — the highest level of support for players aged 16-24 — fell to a 6-2 7-6 (4) defeat against Chinese ace and world No.41 Shuai Zhang in the last 16 on Tuesday. Ad/> The 23-year-old rallied resiliently throughout the second set and believes the experience of battling it out against last year's Nottingham finalist will stand her in good stead ahead of a busy grass court season.

/> TennisMurray defeats Bublik to reach quarter-finals in StuttgartAN HOUR AGO Burrage, the current world No.235, said: «It was a tight level match but I'm really happy with how I'm playing. »It was a good level match against a very experienced opponent — and I held my own out there. «I had that second set and probably should have taken it.

»She's ranked about 40 in the world and been around for a long, long time — she made the final here last year, so I'm going to take a lot of positives from it and keep working to make sure I win that match next time." Shuai, 33, reached the final of the Midlands showpiece last year before falling to a 6-2 6-1 defeat against British star Johanna Konta. That experience meant Burrage — who beat Lin Zhu in the first round earlier this week — was acutely aware of the challenge in store as she started slowly against the two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist. Burrage lost the first set 6-2 but fought admirably in the second to take her opponent to a tie-break.