Britain's Katie Swan saw her superb Australian Open campaign come to a disappointing end as she lost to Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova in the final of the girls' singles.

Swan beat the top seed in the third round in Melbourne and saved three match points in an epic semi-final victory on Friday, where she struggled badly with cramp in a three-set match lasting more than two-and-a-half hours.

But the 15-year-old from Bristol, who is now based in Kansas, perhaps paid the price for those heroics in the final, losing 6-1, 6-4, in an hour and 29 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

After losing the first set in comprehensive fashion in the windy conditions, Swan threatened to make a comeback when she saved two break points in the opening game of the second set and then broke serve on her way to a 3-0 lead.

However, she then left the court for a medical time-out and after returning with strapping on her right thigh, proceeded to lose the next five games in a row.

Swan saved two match points to force Mihalikova to serve for the match, but the unseeded 16-year-old held her nerve from 0-30 down to seal victory.

"I actually started to feel my groin at the middle of the first set and then it got worse and worse throughout," Swan said. "I decided at 1-0 when I changed ends I was going to have the trainer on no matter what. So we went off and I think it's a strain in my groin. It's unfortunate but not much I can do about it.

"I think I didn't have much time to recover from yesterday, so that's part of it."

Swan added: "It was tough the first set. I wasn't really playing my best. I was pretty nervous so I wasn't really on my game.

"But then the second set I told myself again I just had to keep fighting. If I didn't have this [injury] and I could move fully, I think I would have had a better chance of taking that set. But I was still pleased with the way I fought and saved two match points.

"It's been an amazing experience. Obviously my best tournament. I'm really pleased with the way I've been playing this week. I hope that there are a lot more tournaments like this for me."