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Little-known Australian qualifier Carsten Ball reflected on the positives after his fairytale run at the LA Open ended at the last hurdle with defeat by American Sam Querrey.

"I take away a lot of confidence," left-hander Ball said after losing to the heavily fancied sixth seed 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the tournament final at the LA Tennis Center.

"It's been a good breakout week. I'd never won a round in an ATP tournament before but hopefully this is a start and I can keep up my confidence and keep playing well.

"I'm a little disappointed I lost but, in the big picture, it's more than I could have hoped for this week, just to be able to be here."

A resident of nearby Newport Beach, world number 205 Ball had to come through three matches of qualifying to reach the main draw at the LA Open.

The 22-year-old went on to beat players such as third-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov and big-serving American John Isner before losing his first sets of the week against 32nd-ranked Querrey.

"I'm pretty tired," said Ball, whose father and coach is former Australian professional Syd Ball. "Finally, the body gets to relax for a couple hours before I have to get back and go to Vancouver.

"I enjoy being tired because it means I've had a good week. Sam definitely stepped up his game and started to make a lot more first serves and put a lot of pressure on my serve.

"But it was good, I felt better today than I did yesterday," he added, referring to his 7-5 7-6 victory over Leonardo Mayer in the semi-finals.

"I still felt confident. It felt good being able to play my own game how I want to play."

Although Ball returns to the relatively low-profile surrounds of the Challenger circuit in Vancouver next week, he has no regrets.

"As soon as I get on the plane I'll feel relaxed," he said.

"And it's not a bad Challenger. It's $100,000 (in prize money) and still a big tournament for me to try and do well."

Watch the WTA Los Angeles event starting with the quarter-finals at 8pm on Friday LIVE on British Eurosport Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

Reuters