The Australian fell 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the second round, once again falling to the World No.24, who forced him out of Wimbledon in the first round last year. While Duckworth managed to push Gasquet to five sets the last time they met at the All England Club, he admits he was never in the contest this time around.

"He served well, he was tough to read," Duckworth said. "He didn't serve that well last time but, like I said, he's been in the top 10 and at that level where you have those days where you can serve all spots. I couldn't really read it too well. My first-serve percentage was down and I wasn't able to get many free points. He got on a roll and ran away with it."

Duckworth, who had fans sing him "Happy Birthday" on court, has had a positive start to the new year. He reached the quarter-finals at the Brisbane International earlier this month, only to bow out against Roger Federer.

This was his third second-round showing at the Australian Open in his last four campaigns in Melbourne, and he chose to take the positives out of a bright start to 2015.

"Richard's obviously a quality player, he's been inside that top 10," Duckworth said. "He played well and I didn't play my best. I'm disappointed right now but hopefully a couple of matches in Brisbane and a couple here, I can use that as a springboard for the rest of the season."

Duckworth, who underwent elbow surgery at around this time last year, is ranked No.120 in the world but is hopeful of increasing his ranking to gain automatic inclusion for the main draw of the French Open and Wimbledon later this year.

The 23-year-old said the emergence of a number of young talented Australians was pushing the nation's leading males to continue their rise up the rankings.

"There are a lot of positive vibes around the place and the locker room," Duckworth said. "Everyone is really pushing each other to climb up those rankings and become better players. We're all pretty good mates off the court as well. If someone does well all the guys practising with him think, 'geez, if this guy's making quarter-finals in this tournament, why can't I be there as well?' We all sort of drag each other along.

"That's what's happening right now and hopefully we can transition from having 11 in the top 200 to having 11 in the top 100."