Beaten Brit Laura Robson laments her attacking instincts in Melbourne

Laura Robson walks off court after losing to Sloane Stephens

Laura Robson believes she may need to curb her attacking instincts as her career progresses over the next few years.

The world No 53 was dumped out of the Australian Open by fellow teenager Sloane Stephens who reached the last 16 with a 7-5 6-3 victory in 109 minutes.

Robson started slowly losing the opening four games before fighting back to level matters at 4-4 only to concede the opening set to the No 29 seed in a little over an hour.

The Londoner fell 4-1 behind in the second set and was unable to recover and she admits: "Sometimes I still go for a bit too much when I'd be better off playing an easier shot rather than going for winners the whole time.

"Against anyone, if you try to finish the rally too early, it's never going to work out that well."
Laura Robson

"Against anyone, if you try to finish the rally too early, it's never going to work out that well.

"But I toughed out two wins and today I thought Sloane played pretty well. So it was still a pretty good tournament."

Robson, who turns 19 on Monday, will hope that a shoulder injury will not prove to hinder her immediate future.

She added: "I felt something in my shoulder yesterday but we still don't know what it is because I haven't had time to see the doctor.

"But these things happen and you just have to play through the pain sometimes."

Robson made 47 unforced errors and only 11 winners against 19-year-old Stephens who also beat the Brit in Hobart recently.

And she believes the pair will meet each other many times in the future: "We're turning into the Fed-Nadal rivalry.

"Whenever we play, we have good matches. Laura and I are good friends. She's obviously a good player. We're going to have a rivalry, all that good stuff."