Laura Robson loses to Serena Williams in Italian Open

Britain's Laura Robson lost her first ever meeting with world number one Serena Williams in the second round of the Italian Open.

Robson, who beat the American's sister Venus in round one, impressed with some superb winners but was vulnerable on serve and made eight double faults.

The 6-2 6-2 defeat dents the 19-year-old Briton's hopes of being among the 32 seeds at this month's French Open.

Williams, 31, will play Melanie Oudin or Dominika Cibulkova in round three.

Despite her loss in one hour and 15 minutes, Londoner Robson did enough to show why she has already beaten the likes of Kim Clijsters, Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska during her short career.

Robson's firepower off the ground helped her to a break in the first game of the match, a cross-court forehand and a backhand down the line leaving top seed Williams stranded, but the American responded immediately.

Serve has been an issue for Robson, who has risen to a career-high 38 in the world this year, and she was broken twice more as the first set slipped away.

She roused herself impressively at the start of the second and the winners continued to flow from her forehand, but, facing two break points in game five, Williams showed her class with an ace and a heavy backhand.

Williams would not lose another game as Robson, who split with coach Zeljko Krajan earlier this month, was broken twice more, double-faulting on break point and then match point.

"I felt like I had a couple of chances that I didn't take, especially on those break points," Robson, who finished with a final tally of eight double faults and just six points won behind the second serve, told 5 live.

"You expect her to hit an unbelievable shot all the time. When she doesn't, you're not ready for it. But there's definitely a lot of things I can take out of it."

On a busy day at the Foro Italico, there were surprise defeats for fourth seed Radwanska, 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki and 15th seed Ana Ivanovic.

Simona Halep of Romania upset Radwanska 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-2, Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski inflicted a third straight defeat on Wozniacki, winning 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5), while Urszula Radwanska defeated Ivanovic 6-3 2-6 6-2.

In the men's event, top seed Novak Djokovic recorded a 6-2 6-2 win over Spain's Albert Montanes, while Roger Federer swept past Italian Potito Starace 6-1 6-2.

"The positive thing is that my ankle is well and I'm playing without pain," said Djokovic, who damaged an ankle on Davis Cup duty earlier this year. "I did not want an injury in the most important part of the year."

Andy Murray will play Spaniard Marcel Granollers in his opening match at approximately 13:00 BST on Wednesday.