Mariano Zabaleta

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Mariano Zabaleta Tennis player
Mariano Zabaleta
Zabaleta with Carlos Moya
Nation: ArgentinaArgentina Argentina
Birthday: February 28, 1978
Size: 183 cm
1st professional season: 1996
Resignation: 2010
Playing hand: Right
Prize money: $ 3,204,127
singles
Career record: 202: 213
Career title: 3
Highest ranking: 21 (April 3, 2000)
Grand Slam record
Grand Slam title: 00000  0
Australian Open 3R (2000)
French Open AF (2002, 2003)
Wimbledon 1R (2001-2003, 2007)
US Open VF (2001)
Double
Career record: 12:35
Highest ranking: 174 (July 7, 2003)
Grand Slam record
Grand Slam title: 00000  0
Australian Open 1R (2003, 2005, 2006)
French Open 1R (2003, 2007)
Wimbledon 2R (2003)
US Open 1R (2004, 2005)
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Mariano Zabaleta (born February 28, 1978 in Tandil ) is a retired Argentinian tennis player .

Career

Zabaleta was a professional from 1996 to 2010 and won three ATP World Tour tournaments during this time - all on sand, his favorite surface.

He started playing tennis at the age of seven. In 1995 he dominated the junior scene and suffered his only defeat of the year in the quarterfinals of the US Open against Peter Wessels . At the Italian Open, whose final he won 6: 4, 6: 2 against Martin Lee , he did not give up a set. He did the same at the French Open , where he defeated Mariano Puerta 6: 2, 6: 3 in the final. Finally, he also triumphed at the Orange Bowl , the unofficial ITF Junior World Championship, where he only gave up a set in the final in his 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win against Tommy Haas . He finished his junior career in the same year as the first in the world rankings and with a record of 81 wins and 6 losses.

In April 1996 Zabaleta celebrated his first Challenger tournament victory with a 6: 4, 6: 4 against Bill Behrens in Birmingham . A month later he took part for the first time in a tournament of the Tennis Masters Series in Rome , but was eliminated in the first round.

His first Grand Slam appearance, at the 1997 French Open , also ended early. Things went better for him there in 1998 when he knocked second world number one Petr Korda out of the tournament with 6: 0, 6: 2, 3: 6, 4: 6, 6: 3 in the first round . He then defeated Jeff Tarango before he was eliminated in the third round against the Moroccan Hicham Arazi . In the same year Zabaleta won his first title on the ATP World Tour in Bogotá and at the end of the year he was among the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time .

In 1999 he reached the final at the Hamburg Masters , which he lost to Marcelo Ríos 7: 6, 5 , 5: 7, 7: 5, 6: 7, 5 , 2: 6. The match lasted a total of 4 hours and 7 minutes and was the longest of his professional career to date. Further finals and good results brought him to 21st place in the ATP ranking on April 3, 2000, the best position of his career. At the US Open in 2001 Zabaleta caused a sensation with his quarter-finals; on the way there he defeated the top 10 player Sébastien Grosjean . But he lost the quarter-final game clearly against Marat Safin .

In 2003 he celebrated his second ATP tournament victory in Båstad . After beating Carlos Moyá in the semifinals , he defeated Nicolás Lapentti 6: 3, 6: 4 in the final . A year later, Zabaleta defended his title at this tournament with a final victory over the reigning French Open winner Gastón Gaudio .

There were no further successes in the following years, so that the Argentine fell out of the top 100 in the world rankings and ultimately had to compete in Challenger tournaments again. That all changed in 2007 when Zabaleta won the Challenger tournaments in La Serena and Bermuda and reached the final of the ATP tournament in Houston , which put him back among the top 100 players. But this should not last; Due to several injuries he was only able to take part in a few tournaments in 2008. In March 2009 he reached the Challenger final in Santiago de Chile , which he lost to his compatriot Máximo González 4-6, 3-6.

In 2010 Zabaleta ended his professional career.

successes

Legend (number of victories)
Grand Slam
ATP World Tour Finals
ATP Super 9
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
ATP International Series Gold
ATP World Tour 500
ATP International Series
ATP World Tour 250 (3)
ATP Challenger Tour (3)

Tournament victories

No. date competition Topping Final opponent Result
1. April 28, 1996 United StatesUnited States Birmingham sand United StatesUnited States Bill Behrens 6: 4, 6: 4
2. November 8, 1998 ColombiaColombia Bogotá sand Paraguay 1990Paraguay Ramon Delgado 6: 4, 6: 4
3. July 13, 2003 SwedenSweden Båstad (1) sand EcuadorEcuador Nicolás Lapentti 6: 3, 6: 4
4th July 11, 2004 SwedenSwedenBåstad (2) sand ArgentinaArgentina Gastón Gaudio 6: 1, 4: 6, 7: 6 4
5. January 21, 2007 ChileChile La Serena sand ArgentinaArgentina Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6: 2, 6: 4
6th April 22, 2007 BermudaBermuda Grand Bermuda sand CanadaCanada Frank Dancevic 7: 5, 5: 7, 6: 3

Final participation

No. date competition Topping Final opponent Result
1. May 9, 1999 GermanyGermany Hamburg sand ChileChile Marcelo Ríos 7: 6 5 , 5: 7, 7: 5, 6: 7 5 , 2: 6
2. May 22, 1999 AustriaAustria St. Polten sand ChileChile Marcelo Ríos 4: 4 task
3. August 8, 1999 NetherlandsNetherlands Amsterdam sand MoroccoMorocco Younes El Aynaoui 0: 6, 3: 6
4th March 2, 2003 MexicoMexico Acapulco sand ArgentinaArgentina Agustín Calleri 5: 7, 6: 3, 3: 6
5. April 15, 2007 United StatesUnited States Houston sand CroatiaCroatia Ivo Karlović 4: 6, 1: 6

Web links

Commons : Mariano Zabaleta  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Zabaleta, Mariano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION argentinian tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Tandil , Argentina