Laura Robson and Coco Vandeweghe were knocked out of the Australian Open women’s doubles in the first round by Hao-Ching Chan and Katarina Srebotnik.

Briton Robson and American Vandeweghe lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to the Taiwanese-Slovenian pair.

British pair Naomi Broady and Anna Smith also lost – 6-2 6-1 to Czechs Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.

Robson, at 227 in the world, was not ranked high enough to enter qualifying for the singles at Melbourne Park.

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Robson on Vegas shooting, retirement thoughts and 2018 goal

Following her defeat, Robson spoke for the first time about being at a music festival in Las Vegas in October, when a mass shooting left 58 people dead.

“It was a crazy, crazy thing to happen and I got really, really lucky,” said Robson, who initially did not realise what was happening. “My friends got really, really lucky. I don’t really like to think about it.

“I thought it was something on the stage. My friend, one of the girls I was with, she is from North Carolina so she was the first one to be like, ‘hang on here, that is definitely bullets’.”

On the tennis court, the 23-year-old has reunited with Dutch coach Martijn Bok, who guided her to the Wimbledon junior title in 2008.

Robson was ranked in the world’s top 30 as a teenager, but fell down the rankings because of long-term wrist problems that required surgery.

Asked if retirement entered her mind while she struggled to improve her ranking last year, she told BBC Sport: “When you’re a couple of weeks into a trip by yourself in China, it definitely does enter your thoughts.

“When I started to feel that way I just had to change my mindset and change the people I had around me a little bit. I got my old coach back and we had some great weeks at the end of the year, training really hard, and he’s here with me now and I feel a lot better.”

Robson, who turns 24 on Sunday, added: “I actually feel good. I feel very happy on court for the first time in a long time.

“My goal for the end of the year is to be back in the top 100 but really, for me, I want to feel the best possible version of myself again on court.

“That’s something that’s just not been there the last few years.”