Michelle Larcher De Brito

About Michelle Larcher De Brito

Micaela Larcher de Brito most commonly known as Michelle de Brito or Michelle Larcher de Brito (born January 29, 1993 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese female tennis player. Michelle's family, moved to the United States to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida when she was 9 years old. Besides her father, António Larcher de Brito, she was coached by Nick Bollettieri till the end of 2007. Currently she is training full time with her father.

Michelle played in the ITF Junior circuit from August, 2006 to December, 2007, managing to win three singles tournaments. In Grand-Slam tournaments, she made it to the singles quarterfinals of the 2007 French Open and the doubles quarterfinals of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. She won her last tournament, the 2007 Orange Bowl, becoming, at 14 years, 10 months and 11 days, the second youngest champion of the event's history after Nicole Vaidišová. She was also the youngest player ever to win the U-16 Eddie Herr Championship (in 2005 when she was 12). Her best junior ranking was the 20th place with a 44-15 singles record and a 10-17 doubles record.

Michelle made her debut on the ITF circuit in early February, 2007, in the $75.000, hard court tournment in Midland, Michigan, United States. There, as an unranked wildcard, she lost in the first round both singles (lost 4–6, 6–2, 7–5 against Kristina Brandi) and doubles (teaming with Greta Arn, lost 6–4, 6–2 against the pair of Julie Ditty and Natalie Grandin). She would make WTA Tour debut as unranked wildcard at the Miami Open, reaching the second round before falling to No.16 seed Daniela Hantuchová 7–5 6–0. At 14 years, 1 month and 3 days, Brito became the seventh-youngest in the WTA tour history to win a singles main draw match by beating Meghann Shaughnessy 3–6, 6–2 7–6(3) in the first round and the youngest since the Age Eligibility Rule was implemented in 1995. Despite this achievement, due to her age, she wasn't allowed to play any more senior tournaments until September. During that time, Michelle played for the Sacramento Capitals in the World Team Tennis, where she won the 2007 championship. In her return to the circuit, Michelle became the first Portuguese player to reach a semifinal at a $75,000 ITF event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, losing to no.3 seed Rossana de los Rios 7–5, 3–6, 7–5. The feat allowed her to debut in the WTA rankings at no.364, with no one younger ahead of her.