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Estoril Open News and Events
Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito booked her place in the qualifying round of the Estoril Open on Sunday. The 16 year old knocked out World No. 238 Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 in three hours and 42 minutes.
Larcher de Brito (pictured) had taken part in an autograph session with young children at the Estadio Nacional earlier in the day.
Larcher de Brito, who is seeded second for qualifying competition, has reached one quarter-final on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at Tashkent last year. Last year she lost to Sandra Mamic on her Estoril main draw debut.
The Florida-based right-hander will next meet seventh-seeded Russian Elena Bovina for a place in the main draw. Bovina, currently No. 161 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings with an 10-5 record this year, overcame American Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and eight minutes. Two weeks ago Bovina fell in the second round of qualifying at Barcelona.
Spaniard Eva Fernandez-Brugues overcame 212 places in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings to beat the top seed and No. 67-ranked Anastasiya Yakimova 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 14 minutes. Fernandez-Brugues saved 10 of 15 break point opportunities. Yakimova, a recent Barcelona quarter-finalist (l. to Vinci), has a 21-8 record this year.
Russian World No. 309 Arina Rodionova needed just 75 minutes to defeat No. 144-ranked Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa in straight sets. Rodionova, 19, notched just her fourth win of the year with a 6-3, 6-2 win and goes onto meet Canadian Sharon Fichman, who beat Yuliya Beygelzimer 6-3, 5-7, 6-0 in two hours and 30 minutes.
World No. 145 Ekaterina Ivanova, the No. 4 seed, took one step closer to qualification after a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Caterina Ferreira of Portugal on Court Central, in the first match of the day. The Russian next challenges Silvia Soler Espinosa, who defeated sixth-seeded Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 6-2, 6-4.
In the men’s qualifying competition, Pablo Cuevas led the six remaining seeds – also Mikhail Kukushkin, Ricardo Hocevar, Ryan Sweeting, Ricardo Mello and Michael Yani – into the final round for a place in the main draw.
Cuevas, currently No. 121 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, swept aside Portuguese wild card Rodrigo Carvalho 6-2, 6-0 in just 52 minutes. He will next meet fifth seed Melo, a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden.
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