French Open 2016: Johanna Konta and Laura Robson crash out of first round in straight sets

Defeats by Julia Goerges and Andrea Petkovic respectively leave Heather Watson as the only British woman left in the singles

Johanna Konta unleashes a backhand during her defeat to Germany's Julia Goerges (EPA)

Heather Watson is the only British woman left in singles competition here at the French Open after Johanna Konta and Laura Robson both fell at the first hurdle. If Robson’s 6-2, 6-2 defeat by Andrea Petkovic was no surprise given their disparity in the world rankings, Konta’s 6-2, 6-3 loss to another German, Julia Goerges, was a disappointment given that the 25-year-old Briton was seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

This was a rare setback in what has been an almost exclusively upward path for Konta in the last 12 months. When she arrived here 12 months ago she was ranked No 143 in the world. Since then, runs to the fourth round of the US Open and the semi-finals of the Australian Open, plus five victories over top 10 opponents, have helped take her to a career-high position at No 21 in the world.

Goerges, nevertheless, was always likely to be a difficult opponent. The 27-year-old German, who currently stands at No 57 in the world rankings, is a former winner of the Stuttgart clay-court tournament and was the world No 15 four years ago.

Konta, who insists that she is comfortable on any surface, struggled to make inroads into Goerges’ serve and did not force a single break point in the match, while the German’s big hitting kept her opponent on the back foot. Goerges cracked 30 winners and Konta only four.

Goerges broke serve at the second attempt and again when Konta served at 2-5 as the German took the opening set with a forehand winner down the line. Goerges made her decisive move in the second set when she broke to lead 4-2, firing a forehand winner after Konta had lost her footing.

“She's a very, very good player in general, and I do think this is her best surface,” Konta said afterwards. “She definitely exploited that. I didn't do quite enough to make the match as competitive as I would have liked, which is disappointing.”

Robson’s chances of making progress here had looked slim from the moment the draw came out. Petkovic, the world No 31, reached the semi-finals here two years ago and is a proven performer on clay.


 Laura Robson was disappointed with her performance against Germany's Andrea Petkovic 
 (Getty)

In contrast Robson’s game, which relies heavily on her big serve and bold ground strokes, is much better suited to quicker surfaces. The 22-year-old currently stands at No 329 in the world rankings as she continues her long struggle to regain former glories following her long lay-off after wrist surgery.

There was plenty of evidence that Robson has lost none of her natural power, but the steady flow of forehand and backhand winners was accompanied by too many mistakes. The former Wimbledon junior champion was particularly erratic on her forehand, with some of her shots flying horribly wide of the target. Robson hit more winners than Petkovic (18 to 15) but also made many more unforced errors (37 to 24).

Robson started well enough, holding serve from 0-30 down in the opening game, but the only other game she won in the opening set was when she broke Petkovic with a thunderous forehand return to reduce the arrears to 2-4.

The first set took only 32 minutes, but Robson put up sterner resistance in the second. The Briton had chances to go 2-0 up and levelled at 2-2 with her second break of the match. However, that was the last game that she won. Robson saved the first match point with a forehand winner but on the second put a forehand in the net.

“It's hard to be positive right now,” a downbeat Robson said afterwards. “I feel like I had a lot of chances. There were a lot of games that went to deuce, and it was also my brain switching off at deuce every time, which sucks really. No other way of putting it. I’ve got so much to work on. My first serve percentage needs to be better. My forehand strike needs to get better.”

Robson played here thanks to a “protected” world ranking following her lengthy lay-off, but it will expire after next month’s Aegon Classic at Edgbaston. Wimbledon may well give her a wild card, but after that she will have to go back to playing in smaller tournaments on the International Tennis Federation circuit.

“I don't want to be ranked 300 for very much longer,” she said. “My goal is the top 100. Then I’ll see where I go after that.