History-making teen sensation Destanee Aiava admitted she tightened up in the decisive moments of her Australian Open first-round loss to German Mona Barthel.
But the powerhouse 16-year-old showed more than enough promise to suggest she won't make a habit of it as she becomes a regular fixture on the sport's biggest stages.
Aiava - the first player born in the 2000s to contest a main-draw match at a major - saved three match points on Monday before going down 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to Barthel, who reached her career-high ranking of 23 four years ago.
The German came up short when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but was able to regroup in the tiebreak.
"I played alright but I think I could have done better," said Aiava.
"I had a lot of chances, but I didn't take them.
"I'm going to work on that a lot more.
"I got a bit tight during the tiebreak and then started rushing, not really thinking through the points.
"That's just experience or better focus she had than me."
Aiava said she would wait until she got home before undergoing a full debrief with her coach and mother Rosie.
"This isn't the first and the last time I'm going to be here - there's plenty more to come," said the free-swinging wildcard.
"I learned how to be more composed out there, and I didn't rush as much.
"But obviously it wasn't my day."
Aiava is already turning heads, with 22-time grand slam champion Serena Williams passing on some salient advice at a promotional opportunity last week.
"She told me to dream big and you'll achieve big," said Aaiva.
"She's quite a nice person. It was a really good experience to get to hit with her."
