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Michelle Arrives For The Orange Bowl!

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Michelle training at the Bolitieri Acadamey

Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal today has arrived at Miami for the first big junior tournament, the Orange Bowl. At the ripe age of 15, Michelle plans to make an impact on the junior tour. "Yeah, I'm so excited. I've been training hard and I really hope that I will do well." Her coach is also the coach of currently World #13 Daniela Hantuchova and the Slovak has nothing but praise for the youngster. "I've got to hit with Michelle during the off-season and I am very impressed with her firepower and accuracy on her groundstrokes. She also has a heart of a lion and always will fight until the very end. Her serve needs a little bit of work but that will develop as she gets older." One of the most unique characteristics about Michelle is her grunt. "Her grunt is loud[laughs]! It probably can compete in the ranks of Maria Sharapova or Venus Williams in decibels."

As Daniela's coach is constantly travelling with her, Michelle travels with her father and often trains at the Bolitieri Acadamey. Nick Bolitieri, who has created tennis supersters like Tommy Haas or Nicole Vaidisova had nothing but kind words about Michelle. "When I look at her, I think GRAND SLAM CHAMPION. She is one my brightest prodigees and I truly believe she has a bright future ahead of her."

In the exhibition phase, Michelle defeated Nikola Hofmanova 6-1, 6-3 but lost to Urszula Radwanska 7-5, 6-7, 6-2.

Amandine Hesse dominates Junior Tour

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Amandine serves against Kristina Kucova. Amandine Hesse of France defeated Kristina Kucova of Slovakia 6-2 6-1

After winning the Orange Bowl in confident fashion, Amandine Hesse of France has been in dominant form. As the current #1 junior player, she has not dropped a set in both of her matches and no more than 5 games each. Thanks to this brilliant performance, the young French junior has made it to the finals with a 2-0 record, extending her undefeated winning streak.

However, in the final, she faces Portugal's only hope Michelle Larcher De Brito. The two have not faced each other before but today the two young warriors will do battle in a hopefully tightly contested match.

"She's such a tough opponent. Mentally, very strong and always comes back. I'm going to try and attack her serve. Both first and second serve. I'm going to try and stay consistent and not give her many free points and keep the rallies long enough as she has huge groundstrokes."
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