NEW YORK, September 14, 2009 (AFP) - Caroline Wozniacki's first experience of a Grand Slam final ended in defeat at the US Open on Sunday, but the 19-year-old Dane has given notice that she belongs among the elite.

There was not much wrong, she felt, with her play in the tournament final, where she lost 7-5, 6-3 to Kim Clijsters, who also lost her first Grand Slam final when just 18-years-old at the 2001 French Open.

Asked if nerves had played any part in her defeat, Wozniacki was adamant.

"No, actually I wasn't too nervous," she said.

"I mean, you're always excited when you're going out to a match. But, I just thought, 'I'm playing a Grand Slam final. I have nothing to lose. I just need to go out there and try to do my best,' and that's what I did.

"Kim just played a great match. She really showed that she's playing great tennis, and I'm happy to have her back.

"But of course I'd like to have taken the next step and have won this match. I mean, she played better than me today and that's why she won."

Wozniacki has been seen as a potential Grand Slam tournament winner since lifting the Wimbledon junior girls title in 2006.

Her parents were from Poland, mother Anna playing for the Polish volleyball team and father Piotr a pro footballer in Poland before transferring to Denmark, where Caroline was born in Odense in July 1990.

She made her mark on the WTA circuit last year and has been steadily moving up the rankings this year, becoming the youngest player in the world top 10 going into the US Open.

Her blond good looks and sunny smile have not gone unnoticed and she was recently signed up as the new face of fashion designer Stella McCartney’s fall/winter 2009 line.

It's enough to turn any young woman's head, but Wozniacki insisted that she would keep her feet on the ground and not shy away from the hard work that is needed to stay competitive at the highest level.

"Obviously I don't like losing. I'm a competitor and I love winning," she said.

"But I think I've had some great weeks here. I mean, I was in the final of a Grand Slam. I'm only 19 years old.

"My ranking will go up again, and I'm just happy the way I'm playing and the way I've been progressing so far."

Wozniacki in fact is projected to rise to sixth in the world and she has set herself up to be one of the main contenders in next year's Grand Slam events.

Clijsters was left in no doubt.

"She has a great future ahead of her and she's a smart girl," she said.