91Èȱ¬

British number one Heather Watson intends to take a break from tennis after losing in the first round for the second tournament in succession.

She was beaten 1-6 7-5 6-4 by Ayumi Morita of Japan in the Miami Masters, and is yet to win a match since reaching 39 in the world rankings.

"This year I've been going a bit too long so I'm a bit burnt out," she told 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 live.

"I've been thinking about it now for a while and I'm going to take a break."

The 20-year-old, who also lost to Irina-Camelia Begu in Indian Wells earlier this month, easily won the first set against Morita and raced into a 4-1 lead in the next.

But Morita, ranked 11 places below her young opponent, hit back to lead 5-4 and broke Watson again to force a decider.

The 23-year-old Japanese player secured two more breaks and completed victory in two hours 45 minutes when she converted a third match point.

"I was looking at the stats and I actually won more points, but that can happen in tennis," Watson observed.

"It really hurts, I think I just need to find myself, find my game again."

Asked about losing the pattern of the match after such a dominant start she said: "I was playing really well, probably the best I've played this year, and I think I lost my concentration a bit, but that was enough for her to gain some confidence and step forward, and it kind of pushed me back and I started to play a lot worse.

"I still tried to fight but it just wasn't good enough, I wasn't aggressive enough."

Despite reaching her current career-high ranking in February, Watson is yet to beat a player ranked higher than her this season.

The Guernsey-born Briton benefitted from the retirement of world number 27 Sorana Cirstea in her season-opening event in Auckland.

She was denied the chance to change that statistic as Ayumi advanced to play Belgian world number 30 Yanina Wickmayer in the next round.