Taylor Dent at the NBTA

Nick’s Picks will be coming to you live from The Sony Ericsson Open from March 25th-29th. Follow along for predictions, picks, and insight into the tournament on the blog and on TennisWeek.com.

Two players who train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy will try and secure a spot in the main draw today in Key Biscayne at the Sony Ericsson Open. American Taylor Dent opened up with a win over fourth-seeded Brian Dabul of Argentina 7-5, 6-2 and will face 21st-seeded Flavio Cipolla with the winner reaching the main draw. Dent reached the quarterfinals of this event back in 2005, so he definitely knows how to win on this surface.

Dutch tennis star Michaella Krajicek upset the top-seed in the first round of qualies, beating Elena Vesnina 7-6(5), 6-4 and will face 20th-seeded Camille Pin of France next. Krajicek reached the third round of this event back in 2006 before falling to Elena Dementieva. This will be the first career meeting between Krajicek and Pin.

Good luck to both Taylor and Michaella today!