Larcher de Brito advances to second round

Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy student Michelle Larcher de Brito advanced to the second round of The Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis. Larcher de Brito, who is only 15 years old, moved on after winning the first set and taking a 1-0 lead in the second set before her opponent, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, retired. Larcher de Brito will now face either sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki or Milagros Sequera in the second round. Congrats to Michelle, keep up the great play!!

Also winning in Memphis was fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport and fifth-seeded Olga Govortsova. Davenport defeated NBTA student Sabine Lisicki 7-5, 6-3 while Govortsova took down Mashona Washington 6-4, 6-2. Lisicki and Davenport met earlier this year in the Fed Cup and Lisicki had won that match, so this was a bit of a revenge match for the American. Davenport will now play Evgeniya Rodina of Russia in the second round. Govortsova will take on Renata Voracova in the second round.

The top two seeds, Venus Williams and Tatiana Golovin, are scheduled to take the court today.

Defending champion Haas wins in first round

NBTA alum Tommy Haas avenged a loss earlier this season to Diego Hartfield, defeating the Argentine 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Haas, who has won this title the last two years, will face either fellow German Benjamin Becker or Kristof Vliegen in the second round.

Someone that wont be in Haas’ way for a third straight title will be James Blake. The American was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a bad knee. He says it has been bothering him since Delray Beach, and now he needs to rest it. He was scheduled to face Donald Young in the opening round, now American Sam Warburg will take his place.

NBTA alum Jesse Levine is scheduled to play his opening round match against Radek Stepanek, who also trains at the Academy. Stepanek reached the finals last week in San Jose before losing to Andy Roddick in straight sets.

Speaking of Roddick, he is the top seed in Memphis, but he is not scheduled to play his first round match against Gilles Muller today.

Sharapova pulls out of Dubai; Chakvetadze wins opener

Fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova was forced to withdraw from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships due to a viral illness. Sharapova, who is 14-0 on the season with two titles, has been hampered by the illness for a couple of days now but she says she has “reached a point where I’m unable to compete.”

Sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze won her first round match against Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the second round in Dubai. Chakvetadze will now face fellow Russian Dinara Safina. Safina is 3-1 against Chakvetadze, including a victory over her last year in Moscow.

Also winning was eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia. She beat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-0 in her opener and will take on Alona Bondarenko in the second round. Bondarenko came back from a set down to defeat Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Other winners included Katarina Srebotnik, Sybille Bammer, Akiko Morigami, and Lucie Safarova.