Watson and Robson bow out at Eastbourne

British interest in the AEGON International at Eastbourne came to an end as local favourites Heather Watson and Laura Robson both fell to disappointing second round defeats.

Watson put up a brave first set fight but was eventually found wanting by Czech seventh seed Lucie Safarova, who broke the Briton three times in the second set to score a 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 success.

And Watson's Fed Cup team-mate Robson did not fare any better against Russian Ekaterina Makarova, broken at crucial points in each set as she fell 6-4 7-5 to the world number 48.

Also in the women's event, fourth seed Marion Bartoli beat Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2 6-2 and there was another win for former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-0 4-6 6-4 over qualifier Stephanie Dubois.

Tamira Paszek beat eighth seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 3-6 6-1 and there were also wins for German fifth seed Angelique Kerber, Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.