Wimbledon 2011: Sam Smith on Laura Robson and Heather Watson

There were contrasting results for two of the great hopes of British women's tennis in the first round of Wimbledon.

Former junior Wimbledon winner Laura Robson overcame her recent lack of form to come from behind to record a sensational win over Angelique Kerber and will now face Maria Sharapova in the next round.

Heather Watson had grabbed the headlines of late with some excellent results on both clay and grass that had seen her briefly reach the women's top 100. However, she struggled with an injury and was knocked out in three sets by Mathilde Johansson.

Here former British number one Sam Smith analyses their performances and their future in the women's game.

LAURA ROBSON, who beat Angelique Kerber 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

The reward for Laura Robson's maiden grand slam win is a match against former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova on Court One.

The 17-year-old has had a tough time with form and injuries so I am just so pleased she can look back and think that it has been one of the best days of her tennis career.

She has dropped to 254th in the world rankings after a difficult year, but just because she hasn't had good results recently it doesn't mean she has become a bad player, she has it all there.

She is still growing and developing so she is going to have patches which are not so good.

It would certainly have been no disgrace to lose to somebody of Angelique Kerber's quality. She is very experienced and knows all the wrinkles on the court, but Laura just closed it out. She held her nerve brilliantly and will learn so much from that.

She is such a natural player and has so much ability with her biggest weapon being her serve forehand combination.

There was a furore when she split with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou so close to the start of Wimbledon. I'm not close enough to her and her camp to know exactly what has gone on, but one thing is certain it can't be great parting with your coach literally a week before a tournament of this magnitude begins. This makes this win all the more impressive as she has done so well to regroup.

It important she gets a new coach that she is happy with as young players need continuity, and also she has still got a lot of work to do to her game on her conditioning and movement.

You can become a better technical mover on a tennis court in terms of the way you set yourself up for the ball and you need a low centre of gravity.

If she settles down with a new coach and does a little bit of work on that part of her game, and a few things go for her, I would like to see her in the world's top 100 by this time next year.

And with her ability it shouldn't be a problem.

HEATHER WATSON, beaten 2-6 6-4 6-4 by Mathilde Johansson

I felt so sorry for Heather Watson following her defeat to Mathilde Johansson. She was playing extremely well before she became hampered by an elbow injury and bravely lost in three sets.

It was a tough match against a very experienced opponent, but if she carries on with the rate of progress we have seen from her this year she won't be losing that sort of match for much longer.

She is going to have a brilliant career. How high she goes, we will have to see but she is going to win so many matches on tour.

I was so impressed with her movement. She is very different to Laura in that she has a much more solid game and glides around the court beautifully as she is a fantastic athlete.

She doesn't have Laura's power, yet it is still too early in her career to say if she will possess the firepower to mix it with the very best.

I know for certain that she hits the ball a lot harder and more aggressively in practice than she does in a match situation, so she will soon realise that she needs to be more aggressive.

What I also like about her is that it means so much to her. There were a few tears in her post-match interview and I'm really pleased to see that she cares so much.

They are both such great, likeable girls, who have a great friendship off the court. It is great for British women's tennis as they are only going to get better with age.

Sam Smith was talking to BBC Sport's Paul Birch