Michelle Larcher de Brito

Michelle Larcher de Brito

Michelle Larcher De Brito 2010 Family Circle Cup 2010
Country	Portugal
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, United States
Born	(1993-01-29) 29 January 1993 Lisbon, Portugal
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight	125 lb (57 kg)
Turned pro	7 February 2007
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 414,621
Singles
Career record	139–103 (57%)
Career titles	0 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 75 (6 July 2009)
Current ranking	No. 133 (20 May 2013)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2013)
French Open	3R (2009)
Wimbledon	2R (2009)
US Open	2R (2009)
Doubles
Career record	6–7 (46%)
Career titles	0 WTA, 0 ITF
Highest ranking	535 (28 February 2011)
Last updated on: 20 May 2013.

Michelle Caroline Larcher de Brito, born Micaela Carolina Larcher de Brito, also known as Michelle Larcher de Brito or Michelle Brito (born 29 January 1993 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese tennis player. Larcher de Brito's family moved to the United States when she was nine years old so she could attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. She was coached by Nick Bollettieri until the end of 2007. Currently she is training full-time with her father, António Larcher de Brito. She achieved a career-high ranking of 76 on 6 July 2009.

She is the first Portuguese female player to enter the main draw of a grand slam, which occurred at the 2009 French Open. Her impressive results at such a young age have prompted Nick Bollettieri to tip her as a possible Top 10 player. She is known for her loud grunts while executing shots, being noted for surpassing in decibels the likes of Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles, Victoria Azarenka and Venus and Serena Williams, other famous "grunters". In response to criticism from fellow players about this, she defended herself by saying, "I could (stop grunting), but, you know, it won't feel natural, because it feels like something is missing in my game if I just stop."

Family and personal life

Larcher de Brito's coach and father, António Maria de Lima de Sousa Larcher de Brito, is Angolan. Her mother, Caroline, is from South Africa. She has two older brothers who are twins, Sérgio and Sebastião, born in 1989. She began playing at the age of three when her father introduced her at a local club. She is a baseliner whose main attributes are her groundstrokes and movement, and she prefers hard and grass courts. Her favorite players are Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Rafael Nadal. She won the 2008 Revelation Award from the Fundação Luso-Brasileira (Portuguese-Brazilian Foundation) and, as a result, she appeared in the pages of Elle Portugal. In 2009, she won the Confederação do Desporto de Portugal (Portuguese Sports Confederation) female athlete of the year award against such rivals as Vanessa Fernandes and Telma Monteiro.

Career

Junior

Larcher de Brito played in the ITF Junior circuit from August 2006 to December 2007, winning 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 20th place with a 44–15 singles record and a 10–17 doubles record.

2007

Michelle Larcher de Brito at the 2007 Coleman Vision Tennis Championships in Albuquerque

Larcher de Brito made her debut on the ITF circuit in early February 2007, in the $75.000, hard court tournament in Midland, Michigan, United States. There, as an unranked wild card, she lost in the first round both singles (lost 4–6, 6–2, 7–5 against world no. 185 Kristina Brandi) and doubles (teaming with Gréta Arn, lost 6–4, 6–2 against the pair of Julie Ditty and Natalie Grandin). She would make WTA Tour debut as unranked wild card 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 no. 43 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, she played for the Sacramento Capitals in the World Team Tennis, becoming the youngest player ever to be drafted in the competition. She would be instrumental in the Capitals victory in the 2007 championship. In her return to the circuit, she 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 Ríos 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.

2008

Larcher de Brito facing Serena Williams in Stanford in 2008

In February, she defeated World No. 124 Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro by 7–5, 1–0 ret in the first round of the 2008 Cellular South Cup - Singles, but she lost in the second round to the World No. 43 Caroline Wozniacki by 6–2, 6–4.

On 28 March 2008, on her return to Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, upset World No. 16 Agnieszka Radwańska, 2–6, 6–3, 7–5 in the 2nd round. She would then lose to World No. 19 Shahar Pe'er 6–0, 6–2. In the first round she defeated World No. 75 Ekaterina Makarova by 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–3. The following month, she debuted on her home tournament in Portugal, the Estoril Open. She lost to World No. 471 Sanda Mamić 2–6, 6–0, 6–4.

In June, she fail to past the qualifying rounds of Wimbledon losing to world no. 105 Stéphanie Foretz Gacon by 6–0, 2–6, 6–4.

On 16 July 2008, she nearly won the best victory of her career, narrowly losing to former world number one player Serena Williams in three sets, 6–4 3–6 2–6.  The day before, she had beaten world number 34 Gisela Dulko in straight sets, 7–5, 7–6(1).

Based on her good Bank of the West Classic tournament performance where she won three qualifying matches (including in the first round with Marta Domachowska, No.  57, by 6–1, 6–0) and one main draw match, on 21 July 2008, de Brito's WTA singles ranking rose 56 places from the previous week, from number 226 to 170 in the world, her then best ranking ever. With that ranking she became (and still is) the highest ranked Portuguese women's player, ahead of then No. 192 Neuza Silva. At the Roger's Cup, Larcher de Brito won two qualifying matches to make it into the main draw. She then went on to defeat no. 97 Vania King 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the first round and no. 18 Flavia Pennetta 6–3, 0–6, 6–3 in the second round before losing to no. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7–5, 2–6, 6–4. After such a great performance by the 15-year old, she rise to number 131 in the world, making her the highest ranking Portuguese tennis player of all time.

At the US Open, de Brito reached the third round of the qualifying rounds, beating world no. 165 Angela Haynes by 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 and world no. 169 Abigail Spears by 6–2, 7–5, but she lost to world no. 124 Ioana Raluca Olaru by 6–2, 6–3.

Her most significant result of the season came in October at the Tashkent Open where she reached her first quarterfinal in the Tour. She would lose to third seed and eventual champion Sorana Cîrstea 6–2, 7–6(5), after she defeated in the first two rounds world no. 130 Andreja Klepac by 6–0, 6–7(4), 6–2 and world no. 182 Tatiana Poutchek by 6–4, 6–1.

2009

She obtained an invite from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association twice again to play 2009 JB Group Classic for Team Europe with Jelena Janković and Ágnes Szávay, they lost to Team Americas (include two Americans Venus Williams, Coco Vandeweghe and Argentine Gisela Dulko) 1–2 at Semi-final and then they lost to Team Asia Pacific (include Chinese Zheng Jie, Indian Sania Mirza and Zhang Ling from Hong Kong) 0–3 at Final (Silver Group).

Larcher de Brito begun the season at the Australian Open where she reached the second qualifying round losing to World no. 169 Alberta Brianti 6–2, 6–3. This was followed by a second round finish in Memphis, losing to World no. 52 Anne Keothavong 7–6(2), 6–4, after defeating World no. 91 Sofia Arvidsson in the first round by 6–2, 6–0 and a qualification to Indian Wells losing to World no. 107 Urszula Radwańska in the first round by 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. In Miami, after successful tournaments as a wild card the two previous years, she failed to qualify this time by losing 6–1, 6–2 in the first qualifying round to World no. 102 Aravane Rezaï.

In April, she debuted in the Fed Cup, helping Portugal qualify to the Europe/Africa Group I with a 2–1 singles record.

At Estoril, in May, she lost 6–0, 6–2 to World no. 165 Elena Bovina in the third qualifying round, but qualified to the main tournament as a lucky loser. She lost to seventh seed World no. 54 Shahar Pe'er 4–6, 6–0, 6–0. The following week at the Madrid Open, as the last direct acceptance in the qualifying draw, she reached the final round where she lost to World no. 53 Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–1, 6–0, after defeating World no. 63 Olga Govortsova by 1–6, 6–4, 6–4.

On 22 May 2009, de Brito qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament main draw at the French Open after winning the final round of the qualifying by beating World no. 152 Kristina Kucova by 6–3, 1–6, 6–3, World no. 177 Yuliana Fedak by 6–3, 6–7 (1), 6–3 and World no. 151 Ekaterina Ivanova 0–6, 6–4, 6–4. She became the first Portuguese female player to do so. After overcoming World no. 121 Melanie South 0–6, 7–6 (5), 7–5 in the first round, de Brito once again made history by becoming the first Portuguese player overall to qualify to the third round of a Grand Slam by beating World no. 15 Jie Zheng 6–4, 6–3, in the greatest victory ever for a Portuguese female tennis player. She would lose to home player World no. 57 Aravane Rezaï 7–6 (3), 6–2, a game in which her opponent made a number of complaints about the amount of noise coming from de Brito. With her third round result, she entered the top 100 for the first time, as the world no. 90.

After a failed qualification in Birmingham, where she lost in the second round to World no. 146 Chanelle Scheepers 6–1, 6–3, she received a wild card to participate in Wimbledon, before winning the Tradition-ICAP Liverpool International, an exhibition tournament, where she beat fellow Wimbledon wild card Laura Robson 6–4, 2–6, 10–6 in the final. At Wimbledon, she defeated World no. 122 Klára Zakopalová in the first round 6–2, 7–5 but fell to World no. 43 Francesca Schiavone in the second 7–6 (2), 7–6 (4). After the good results on Europe, she returned to the USA to compete on the US Open Series tournaments. However, her results were disappointing, first in LA, where she received a Wild Card, losing 4–6, 5–7 against World no. 28 Sorana Cîrstea, then as a qualifier in Cincinnati losing 4–6, 2–6 against World no. 61 Yaroslava Shvedova and Toronto 3–6, 4–6 against World no. 69 Petra Kvitová.

Following those results its was announced that she signed a three-year deal with the famous Mouratoglou Academy to prepare herself during the European seasons. At the US Open, de Brito reached the second round, beating World no. 97 Mathilde Johansson 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, before losing to World no. 19 Na Li 6–1, 6–3. She finished the year by losing to Belgian World no. 85 Kirsten Flipkens in the first round of qualifying in Luxemburg.

2010

Playing in the qualifying phase at the Australian Open, Larcher de Brito failed to qualify to a Grand Slam tournament since the previous year's Australian slam, losing in the first qualifying round 6–3, 6–0 to World no. 174 Ekaterina Dzehalevich. This was followed by a four-match losing run in the Fed Cup in February (that saw the Portugal relegated to Europe/Africa Group II) and a third successive second round showing in Memphis, losing 6–3, 6–1 to World no. 121 Anne Keothavong. After first round exits at Indian Wells (after she won two qualifying matches against World no. 86 Klára Zakopalová by 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 and World no. 115 Arantxa Rus by 6–4, 6–3, she lost to World no. 51 Alexandra Dulgheru by 6–2, 6–2) and Miami (where she lost to World no. 40 Sorana Cîrstea by 7–5, 7–6(9)), she found more success in the clay court season with second round showings at Charleston (where she lost to World no. 49 Patty Schnyder by 6–1, 6–2) and Estoril (after she defeated World no. 71 Alize Cornet by 6–3, 4–6, 6–3 in the first round, she lost to World no. 38 Sorana Cîrstea by 7–5, 7–5). Despite signs of improvement, she failed to qualify to the main draw at the French Open, losing to World no. 179 Misaki Doi in the second qualifying round 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.

In June, came her best result of the season, a third round showing in Birmingham, where she lost to World no. 93 Kaia Kanepi 6–2, 6–2, after defeating World no. 174 Ekaterina Dzehalevich by 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 and World no. 39 Olga Govortsova by 6–1, 4–6, 7–5 in the first two rounds. This was followed with a first round loss at Wimbledon against World no. 1 and eventual champion Serena Williams 6–0, 6–4. The American hard court season also proved to be unsuccessful with failed qualification attempts at Stanford and San Diego and a first round loss at the US Open against World no. 159 Sania Mirza 6–3, 6–2 (after she won three qualifying matches against World no. 207 Karolina Pliskova by 6–4, 6–4, World no. 124 Anastasiya Yakimova by 6–0, 6–0 and World no. 132 Alexandra Panova by 2–6, 6–3, 6–3). She finished the year at the ITF 75K event at Albuquerque with another first round loss to World no. 677 Daria Gavrilova by 6–2, 6–4.

2011

Larcher de Brito started the season by playing in an ITF 25K event in Plantation, losing in the first round to World no. 323 Julia Boserup in straight sets 6–0, 6–4. She then took part in another ITF 25K event in Lutz, losing in the second round to 874-ranked player Jessica Pegula in a close match, by 4–6, 7–6(3), 7–6(3). At her third event, in the ITF 25K event in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, Larcher de Brito won her first career title beating World no. 189 Madison Brengle in the final 3–6, 6–4, 6–1. Afterwards she took part in 100K event in Midland, losing in the second round to American World no. 281 Ahsha Rolle 6–0, 3–6, 6–3. In Miami she lost in the second round of qualifying to former junior No.1 and World no. 104 Arantxa Rus 6–4, 6–2, after she defeated World no. 67 Magdalena Rybarikova by 2–6, 7–5, 6–0 in the first round.

In April, in the ITF 50K event in Charlottesville, Larcher de Brito lost to World no. 189 Stephanie Dubois in the final by 1–6, 7–6(5), 6–1.

In May, she failed to qualify to the main draw at the French Open, losing to World no. 202 Elena Bogdan in the first qualifying round by 4–6, 6–2, 6–4.

In June, she achieved the semi-finals in the ITF 75K event in Nottingham, where she lost to no. 123 Olga Govortsova by 7–5, 6–2.

In August, returning from injury, she won the first round in the qualifying of the US Open, beating World no. 136 Lesia Tsurenko by 7–6(4), 4–6, 7–6(3) in 2h51m with an incredible number of 19 double-faults. In the second round, she defeated World no. 193 Anna Floris by 6–2, 6–0 in only 56m. In the third round, she lost to the World no. 194 Karin Knapp by 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(1) in 2h40m.

In September, she won the second round in the qualifying of the Bell Challenge, beating World no. 422 Amra Sadikovic by 6–0, 6–4 in 69m with 9 double-faults. In the third round, she lost to the World no. 236 Gail Brodsky by 6–3, 6–4 in 59m.

In October, Larcher de Brito was the 3rd seed in the ITF 25K in Bayamon. In First Round, she defeated Yolima Ogando by 6–3, 6–2, in Second she won Teliana Pereira by 6–4, 7–6(3), in Quarter-Finals defeated the no. 5 seed and World no. 195 Madison Brengle by 6–3, 6–2, in Semi-Final defeated Catalina Castaño by 6–4, 6–2. In the final she defeated the no. 8 seed and World no. 262 Monica Puig by 6–3, 6–2 to win her second career title.

In November, in the ITF 75K event in Phoenix, Larcher de Brito lost to World no. 175 Sesil Karatantcheva in the final by 6–1, 7–5, after defeating seed no. 1 and world no. 79 Irina Falconi in the first round by 6–2, 4–6, 6–0 and no. 3 seed and world no. 117 Mandy Minella by 6–2, 6–0 in the semi-finals.

2012

Playing in the qualifying phase at the Australian Open, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6–3, 7–5 to World no. 151 Kathrin Woerle. In the second round, she defeated World no. 117 Arantxa Parra Santonja by 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 in 2h. In the third round, she lost to the World no. 140 Stefanie Voegele by 7–5, 3–6, 6–4 in 2h29m.

This was followed a participation in the Fed Cup in February. After a 6–2, 6–3 loss to Elena Baltacha, Portugal's overall 3–0 loss to Great Britain, Michelle, 99 places lower than her Israeli opponent Shahar Peer, played a solid baseline game and capitalised on the Israeli's many errors to register a 6–1 6–2 thrashing that both the home favourite and the crowd are certain to remember for a while. She also beat Michaella Krajicek 6–1, 6–2 and Dia Evtimova 6–1, 6–1 to help Portugal to achieve the 5th place in the Europe/Africa group. After that, in the ITF 25K event in City of Surprise Women's Tennis Classic, Larcher de Brito won her third career title beating World no. 172 Claire Feuerstein in the final by 6–1, 6–3 in only 58m.

In April, playing in the qualifying phase at Charleston, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6–2, 6–3 to World no. 333 Alexandra Stevenson in 1h11m. In the second round, she lost to the World no. 122 Karolina Pliskova by 6–4, 6–2 in 1h13m. A week later, in the ITF 25K event in Pelham, Larcher de Brito lost to the no. 96 Edina Gallovits-Hall in the semi-finals by 7–6(5), 2–6, 6–1, after defeating the no. 174 Julia Boserup in the first round by 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 and the young Australian no. 218 Sacha Jones by 3–6, 6–4, 7–6(5) in 2h55m in the quarter finals.

In May, playing in the qualifying phase at Brussels, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6–1, 6–3 to World no. 748 Ysaline Bonaventure in 1h7m. In the second round, she lost to the World no. 98 Arantxa Rus by 6–1, 6–1 in 1h4m. A week later, she failed to qualify to the main draw at the French Open, losing to World no. 163 Tatjana Malek in the first qualifying round by 4–6, 6–2, 6–1 in 2h.

In June, she achieved the second round in the ITF 75K event in Nottingham, where she lost to no. 63 Elena Baltacha by 6–4, 6–2, after winning 3 games in the qualifying and defeating no. 84 Ayumi Morita by 4–6, 6–0, 7–6(4) in the first round. A week later, playing in the qualifying phase at Birmingham, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6–3, 6–2 to World no. 784 Liga Dekmeijere in 1h5m. In the second round, she defeated no. 151 Chan Yung-jan by 6–2, 6–2 in only 1h14m and qualified for the tournament main draw. Then she won in the first round to no. 103 Bojana Jovanovski by 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 in 2h7m. In the second round, she lost to no. 206 Melanie Oudin by 6–3, 6–4. This was followed with a first round victory in the qualifying phase at Wimbledon against world no. 216 Ajla Tomljanovic by 7–5, 3–1 ret. In the second round, she lost to the World no. 118 Karolina Pliskova by 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 in 2h.

In July, Michelle received a wildcard in the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. In the first round she won 11 straight games from 7–5, 2–0 down and eventually closed out Jarmila Gajdosova by 5–7, 6–2, 6–3 in 1h44m. In the second round, she lost to world no. 43 e 6th seed Chanelle Scheepers by 6–3,6–4 in 1h27m. A week later, playing in the qualifying phase at the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, she won in the first round to world no. 238 Julia Boserup by 6–3, 6–2. In the second record she won world no. 123 Melanie Oudin by por 6–4, 6–2 in 1h28m and qualified for the tournament main draw. In the first round, she lost to world no. 140 Misaki Doi by 6–7(6), 6–1, 6–3 in 2h17m. This was followed with a first round victory in the qualifying phase at Washington against world no. 1138 Alessondra Parra by 6–0, 6–3 in only 48m. In the second record she won world no. 272 Gabriela Paz by por 6–2, 6–4 and qualified for the tournament main draw. Larcher de Brito, battled past the a player 11 years older the Croatian star, Mirjana Lucic, in a three-set thriller. She also had to endure a short delay because of temperatures rising to unplayable levels. She nudged up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory against the German-born Lucic to labour into the second round. She broke her rival’s serve twice and jumped to a 5-1 lead. Apart from wasting her chance of serving out the opening set with a breadstick, Larcher de Brito plucked her serve once more and clicked the opener with a 6-3 win. Lucic re-focused in the follow-up set and got back in action. She earned the critical break in the fourth game and leaped to a 4-1 lead. The Croat held her remaining serves with poise and sealed the equalizer by winning six games to two. Larcher de Brito re-gained her strength in the final set which matter the most. After Lucic held her serve in the second game, the Portuguese unleashed her true form and went on a five-game tear, subsequently pulling out the decider a breadstick. In the second round, she lost to the world no. 50 Sloane Stephens by 6–2, 0–6, 6–1 in 1h21m.

In August, at the Roger's Cup, Larcher de Brito won the first round of the qualifying to the world no. 156 Kristina Mladenovic by 7–5, 6–2. In the second round, she defeats world no. 60 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova by 6–1, 6–2 in only 1h3m. In the 3rd and ast round, she defeats world no. 100 Mirjana Lucic by 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in 1h31m and qualified for the tournament main draw. In the first round, she lost to the world no. 48 Simona Halep by 6–4, 6–3 in 1h19m. Later, she won the first round in the qualifying of the US Open, beating World no. 1032 Ekaterina Dzehalevich by 4–6, 6–3, 7–5 in 2h32m. In the second round, she lost to Elina Svitolina by 2–6, 7–5, 6–3 in 1h58m.

In September, she lost in the first round of the Bell Challenge, to World no. 234 Petra Rampre by 6–2, 1–6, 6–3 in 1h27m. Later, she reach the semifinal at the $75,000 ITF event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, losing to no. 177 Maria Sanchez by 6–4, 7–6(5) in 2h after saving 7 match points.

In October, she reach the semifinal at the $25,000 ITF event in Troy, losing to no. 198 Sharon Fichman by 6–3, 6–4 in 1h45m after saving 5 match points.

2013

Playing in the qualifying phase at the Australian Open, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6-1, 6-1 to Azra Hadzic. In the second round she defeated no. 196 Cristina Mitu by 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in 1h49m. In the third round, Larcher De Brito needed more than two hours to defeat South Africa’s no. 188 Chanel Simmonds, triumphing by 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 in a titanic clash on court 10 to make her Australian Open main draw debut. In the first round, she was defeated by 19th seed Ekaterina Makarova by 6-2, 7-5 in 1h31m.

This was followed a participation in the Fed Cup in February. After a 3–6, 7–5, 7-5 loss to no. 79 Timea Babos in 2h20m, Portugal's overall 3–0 loss to Hungary, Michelle defeated no. 41 Heather Watson by 6-1, 6-4 in 1h6m. Laura Robson and Heather Watson held their nerve in a deciding doubles rubber against Portugal to secure Great Britain's second victory at the Fed Cup in Israel. Watson and Robson are occasional doubles partners, teaming up at the Olympics last year, and they easily saw off Larcher de Brito and Joana Vale Costa 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes to earn Britain a 2-1 victory in the tie. In the last round, she defeated no. 566 Jelena Simic from Bosnia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and in doubles with Barbara Luz they defeated Anita Husaric and Dea Herdzelas by 6-1, 6-0. This was followed by a loss in the qualifying in Memphis, losing to World no. 96 Jana Cepelova by 7–5, 7–5 in 1h44m.

In March, in the qualification to Indian Wells, Michelle defeated in the first round no. 83 Misaki Doi by 6-1, 6-3 in 1h19m. In the second round, she qualified to the main draw, as she defeated no. 108 Anastasia Rodionova by 6-2, 6-3 in 1h19m. In the main draw, in the first round, Michelle lost to Alexandra Dulgheru, ex-top25 and no. 491 by 6-4, 6-4 in 1h19m. Later, playing in the qualifying phase at Charleston, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6-4, 6-1 to Hayley Carter in 1h2m. In the second round, she lost to world no. 147 Jessica Pegula by 7-6 (4), 6-3 in 1h25m.

In May, in the qualification to the Brussels Open, Larcher de Brito won in the first qualifying round by 6-3, 6-2 to no. 972 Alicja Rosolska in only 56m. In the 2nd round, she lost to no. 108 Yulia Putintseva by 6-4, 6-1 in 1h20m. Later, she failed to qualify to the main draw at the French Open, where she lost in the first round of the qualifying to no. 180 Maryna Zanevska by 6-4, 6-2 in only 1h16m.

Grunting controversy

During the 2009 French Open and Wimbledon tournaments, Larcher de Brito came under criticism for what by some was considered excessive grunting. Some players and commentators have voiced suspicions that the grunting is used as an unsportmanlike tactic to distract the opponent and that this tactic is actually taught by Nick Bollettieri, who is responsible for the training of Larcher de Brito and other grunting tennis greats. Bollettieri has denied this by saying: "My staff and I have never taught grunting. It isn’t something that is done deliberately to hurt their opponents." He also called for some sort of regulation: "Players on both the men's and women's tours grunt. Something eventually needs to be done." Michelle Larcher de Brito also denies being unsportmanlike and has stated: "Nobody can tell me to stop grunting. Tennis is an individual sport and I'm an individual player. If they have to fine me, go ahead, because I'd rather get fined than lose a match because I had to stop grunting [...] If it has inconvenienced the other player, there's nothing I can really do about it, because I don't really want to change anything. [...] I'm here to win. That's it. If people don't like my grunting they can always leave.". On a more conciliatory note, however, Larcher de Brito has also recently remarked: "I’m 16 and I’m still learning. Maybe I can eventually put it under control. I don’t know, but I’ll try. It comes from Seles; it comes from Sharapova. It comes from great players.". Like Larcher de Brito, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova were also trained by Nick Bollettieri.

Career finals

ITF Circuit

Singles: 5 (3–2)

$100,000 tournaments (0–0) $75,000 tournaments (0–1) $50,000 tournaments (0–1) $25,000 tournaments (3–0) $10,000 tournaments (0–0)

Titles by Surface Hard (3–1) Clay (0–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	6 February 2011	Rancho Santa Fe, United States	Hard	Madison Brengle	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	1.	1 May 2011	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Stéphanie Dubois	1–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–1
Winner	2.	30 October 2011	Bayamon, Puerto Rico	Hard	Mónica Puig	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	13 November 2011	Phoenix, United States	Hard	Sesil Karatantcheva	6–1, 7–5
Winner	3.	19 February 2012	Surprise, United States	Hard	Claire Feuerstein	6–1, 6–3

Exhibition

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	20 June 2009	Liverpool, England, U.K.	Grass	Laura Robson	6-1 6-1

Singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

SF-B

F

S

G

NMS

NH

Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a Round Robin stage or lost in Qualification Round 3, 2, Round 1; absent from a tournament or participated in a team event; played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-off; won a bronze, silver (F or S) or gold medal at the Olympics, the former of which has, from 1908–1924 and 1996–present, been awarded to the winner of a play-off match between losing semifinalists. The last two are for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series) or a tournament that was Not Held in a given year. To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of (not during) a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended. Qualifying matches and Walkovers are neither official match wins nor losses. Fed Cup matches are included in the statistics. This table is current through 22 May 2013.

Tournament	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	SR	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	Q2	Q1	A	Q3	1R	0 / 1	0–1
French Open	A	A	3R	Q2	Q1	Q1	Q1	0 / 1	2–1
Wimbledon	A	Q1	2R	1R	A	Q2		0 / 2	1–2
US Open	A	Q3	2R	1R	Q3	Q2		0 / 2	1–2
SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 7	N/A
Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	4–3	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	N/A	4–6
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells	A	A	1R	1R	A	A	1R	0 / 3	0–3
Miami	2R	3R	Q1	1R	Q2	A	A	0 / 3	3–3
Madrid	Not Held		Q2	Q1	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Beijing	Not PMM		Q1	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 6	N/A
Win-Loss	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	N/A	3–6
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Montreal/Toronto	A	3R	Q1	A	A	1R		0 / 2	2–2
Cincinnati	Not PM5		Q1	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1		0 / 2	N/A
Win-Loss	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1		N/A	2–2
WTA Premier Tournaments
Charleston	A	A	A	2R	A	Q2	Q2	0 / 1	1–1
Brussels	Not Held				A	Q2	Q2	0 / 0	0–0
Stanford	A	2R	A	Q2	A	2R		0 / 2	2–2
Los Angeles	A	Q1	1R	Not Held				0 / 1	0–1
San Diego	Not Held			Q1	A	1R		0 / 1	0–1
SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 2		0 / 5	N/A
Win-Loss	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–2		N/A	3–5
WTA International Tournaments
Memphis	A	2R	2R	2R	Q2	A	Q1	0 / 3	3–3
Ponte Vedra Beach	A	A	A	Q1	Not Held			0 / 0	0–0
Fes	A	Q2	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Estoril	A	1R	1R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 3	1–3
Birmingham	A	A	Q2	3R	Q2	2R		0 / 2	3–2
Washington	Not Held				A	2R		0 / 1	1–1
Quebec City	A	Q1	A	A	Q3	1R		0 / 1	0–1
Tashkent	A	QF	A	A	A	A		0 / 1	2–1
Luxembourg	A	A	Q1	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
SR	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 3		0 / 10	N/A
Win-Loss	0–0	3–3	1–2	4–3	0–0	2–3		N/A	10–11
Career Statistics
Tournaments played	1	6	7	8	0	6	2	Career total: 30
Finals reached	0	0	0	0	0	0		Career total: 0
Tournaments Won	0	0	0	0	0	0		Career total: 0
Statistics by surface
Hardcourt Win-Loss	1–1	8–5	4–5	1–8	0–0	5–6	0–2	N/A	19–27
Clay Win-Loss	0–0	0–1	2–2	2–2	3–0	0–0		N/A	7–5
Grass Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1		N/A	4–4
Carpet Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0		N/A	0–0
Overall Win-Loss	1–1	8–6	7–8	5–12	3–0	6–7	0–2	N/A	30–361
Win (%)	50%	57%	47%	29%	100%	46%	0%	Career Win (%): 45%
Year-end ranking	312	124	114	205	146	130		$414,621

If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 45–26; Clay: 13–13; Grass: 7–2) and WTA Qualifying (Hardcourt: 31–17; Clay: 9–9; Grass: 4–4) participations are included, then her overall win-loss record stands at 139–103.

Fed Cup

Larcher de Brito debuted for the Portugal Fed Cup team in 2009 and helped in the team's promotion to the Europe/Africa Group I. The team was relegated back to Group II in 2010 and she helped again in 2011 in the team's promotion to the Europe/Africa Group I with 5 victories. She has a 10–7 singles record and a 5–2 doubles record (15–9 overall).

Participations (24)

Singles (17)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	W–L	Result
2009 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group II	RR	22–24 April 2009	Morocco	Hard	Fatima El Allami	Win	6–4, 7–5
			Latvia		Anastasija Sevastova	Loss	2–6, 3–6
	GII Play-Offs	25 April 2009	South Africa	Hard	Natalie Grandin	Win	6–4, 6–3
2010 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	3–5 February 2010	Croatia	Hard	Petra Martić	Loss	4–6, 1–6
			Switzerland		Patty Schnyder	Loss	2–6, 4–6
			Romania		Alexandra Dulgheru	Loss	0–6, 7–5, 2–6
	GI Play-Offs	6 February 2010	Bulgaria	Hard	Tsvetana Pironkova	Loss	3–6, 3–6
2011 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group II	RR	4–6 May 2011	Morocco	Clay	Fatima El Allami	Win	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
			Finland		Emma Laine	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–3
	GII Play-Offs	7 May 2011	Georgia	Clay	Sofia Shapatava	Win	3–6, 6–4, 7–6(8–6)
2012 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	1–3 February 2012	Great Britain	Hard	Elena Baltacha	Loss	2–6, 3–6
			Israel		Shahar Pe'er	Win	6–2, 6–1
			Netherlands		Michaella Krajicek	Win	6–1, 6–2
	GI Play-Offs	4 February 2012	Bulgaria	Hard	Dia Evtimova	Win	6–1, 6–1
2013 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	7–9 February 2013	Hungary	Hard	Timea Babos	Loss	6-3, 5-7, 5-7
			Great Britain		Heather Watson	Win	6–1, 6-4
			Bosnia and Herzegovina		Jelena Simic	Win	6–3, 3-6, 6-2

Doubles (7)

Edition	Round	Date	Partnering	Against	Surface	Opponents	W–L	Result
2010 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	3 February 2010	Neuza Silva	Croatia	Hard	Jelena Kostanić Tošić Silvia Njirić	Win	7–5, 6–4
2011 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group II	RR	4–6 May 2011	Maria João Koehler	Morocco	Clay	Fatima El Allami Nadia Lalami	Win	6–3, 6–2
			Maria Joao Koehler	Finland		Emma Laine Piia Suomalainen	Win	6–3, 6–2
2012 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	1–3 February 2012	Maria Joao Koehler	Great Britain	Hard	Laura Robson Heather Watson	Loss	5–7, 0–6
			Maria Joao Koehler	Israel		Shahar Pe'er Julia Glushko	Win	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2013 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Group I	RR	7–9 February 2013	Joana Valle Costa	Great Britain	Hard	Laura Robson Heather Watson	Loss	2–6, 1–6
			Barbara Luz	Bosnia and Herzegovina		Anita Husaric Dea Herdzelas	Win	6–1, 6-0

See also

• Portugal Fed Cup team

External links

• Michelle Larcher de Brito at the Women's Tennis Association
• Michelle Larcher de Brito at the Fed Cup
• Michelle Larcher de Brito at the International Tennis Federation
• Michelle Larcher de Brito at the International Tennis Federation Junior Profile