LAURA ROBSON and Heather Watson left the Tarka Tennis Centre this afternoon with their heads held high.

The British teenagers took the more experienced Anna Gerasimou and Katalin Marosi to a tie-break decider in their AEGON Pro-Series Barnstaple second-round match.

They were eventually overcome 6-3, 5-7 (10-2), ending their interest in the tournament after exiting the singles earlier this week.

Watson, the 17-year-old US Open junior champion, said: "It was disappointing because we played really well.

"They were tricky opponents and they forced us to hit really good shots or make mistakes."

In only their second match as a doubles pairing — the first was last night's win over second seeds Sarah Borwell and Melanie South — they struggled to come to terms with their opponents in the first set.

"Their experience showed in the tactics they used," said Robson.

The 15-year-old appeared frustrated by their struggles and at one point in the ninth game complained "I can't hit anything".

It was in that game that Gerasimou and Marosi took the first set, Hungarian Marosi clinching it with a superb passing shot.

Robson and Watson found some fluency in the second set.

Watson also gained control of her serve. Having been broken twice in the first set, she held her three service games in the second.

That included the 12th, giving them a 7-5 success as Robson volleyed a winner on their second set point.

At 5-4 down, Robson had been serving to stay in the match. Having been broken in her previous service game, she held it together when it really mattered and Watson clinched the game with an excellent stop-volley.

Marosi was broken in the next game, shovelling a volley into the net to hand her opponents the lead.

Then Watson raced into a 40-0 lead and set up the tie-breaker.

Watson admitted she is no fan of super tie-breaks — the third set is decided on the first to 10 points with a two-point lead — but you wouldn't have expected her to say anything else after she and Robson slipped 8-1 behind.

Watson volleyed a winner to make it 8-2 but Gerasimou and Marosi closed out the match and set up a quarter-final against the winners of this evening's match featuring Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic against Kelly Anderson and Emma Laine.