Mariano Zabaleta

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**Mariano Zabaleta**
Zabaleta (left) with Carlos Moyà
Country	Argentina
Residence	Tandil, Argentina
Date of birth	February 28, 1978 (1978-02-28) (age 30)
Place of birth	Tandil, Argentina
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb/12.1 st)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed;
Career prize money	US$3,154,533
Singles
Career record:	202-209
Career titles:	3
Highest ranking:	No. 21 (April 3, 2000)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3rd (2000)
French Open	4th (2002, 2003)
Wimbledon	1st (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
US Open	QF (2001)
Doubles
Career record:	12-35
Career titles:	0
Highest ranking:	No. 174 (July, 2003)
Infobox last updated on: August 19, 2007.

Mariano Zabaleta (born February 28, 1978 in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province) is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. He turned professional in 1996. Zabaleta is a right-hander with a double handed backhand. He has an unusual but effective service motion and fighting spirit. His best shot is his forehand and his favourite surface is clay.

1 Career
2 Personal and miscellaneous
3 Singles titles (6)
- 3.1 Singles Finalist (5)
4 External links

[edit] Career

Zabaleta was an outstanding junior in 1995 and finished the year as number 1 with a junior career record of 81-6, with his only loss in 1995 to Peter Wessels at the quarter finals of the US Open ^[1].

Zabaleta won three of the major junior events in 1995. The Italian Open juniors without losing a set against Martin Lee in the final 6–4 6–2 and followed that up with French Open juniors which was also achieved without dropping a set and he defeated compatriot Mariano Puerta 6–2, 6–3 as he had done four times in 1995 and not losing a set in the process. Zabaleta finished his junior career with victory in the Orange Bowl over Tommy Haas 6–2 3–6 6–1 and that was the only set he dropped in the tournament ^[1].

Zabaleta struggled inititally with the transition from juniors to seniors. In 1996 he won his first Challenger event in Birmingham, Alabama over Bill Behrens 6–4, 6–4 and his quarter final performance in Bournemouth was his best showing on the main tour.

In 1997 he made the final of the Guayaquil Challenger losing to Tomas Nydahl. In 1998 Zabaleta reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier and defeated the number 2 player in the world and reigning Australian Open champion Petr Korda 6–0, 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3 before losing to Hicham Arazi. Later in the year Zabaleta made his first semifinal in Amsterdam losing to Magnus Norman and then in November he won his first ATP title as a senior at Bogotá defeating Ramon Delgado 6–4, 6–4 in the final.

In 1999 Zabaleta was a finalist on three occasions without winning a title, his best performance was reaching the final of the Hamburg Masters against Marcelo Ríos. Zabaleta served for the match in the fourth set and lost the set in the tiebreak and lost the match 6–7(5) 7–5 5–7 7–6(5) 6–2. Zabaleta lost to Rios again in St Pölten and in Amsterdam to Younes El Aynaoui.

Zabaleta reached the third round of the 2000 Australian Open his best ever showing at the event before losing to Andre Agassi, but he was involved in an Americas Zone Group Davis Cup tie with rivals Chile in Santiago when Zabaleta was leading 7–5 2–6 7–6(1) 3–1, when sections of the Chilean crowd incensed by what was perceived to be bad calls against Nicolás Massú threw missiles, fruit, coins, bottles, plastic chairs among other things. Zabaleta’s father was hurt in the disturbances and required 10 stitches and the Argentines did not complete the tie after they were escorted from the court by police. ^[2].Zabaleta reached the third round of the Olympics in Sydney defeating Marcelo Ríos and Jeff Tarango before losing to Max Mirnyi.

While there were no titles in 2001 and 2002 for Zabaleta, he achieved his best ever Grand Slam performance surprisingly at the US Open where he made the quarter finals on a fast hardcourt, whereas most of success has come on the clay. He defeated Sebastien Grosjean who was in the top 10 at the time, in the first round, then Taylor Dent, Greg Rusedski and Xavier Malisse were beaten before Marat Safin ended his run. He also reached the fourth round of the 2002 French Open defeating top 10 player Yevgeny Kafelnikov and falling to Alex Corretja.

2003 was Zabaleta’s best year overall with a 33-25 record and for the first time a positive record on both hardcourt 12-11 and on clay 20-11. He made the semis in Auckland and Scottsdale losing to Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis respectively, he made first his final since 1999 at Acapulco in the process avenging the defeat in Auckland by Gustavo Kuerten in the semi finals before losing to Agustin Calleri.

Zabaleta matched his fourth round showing from the previous year at the French Open losing to Guillermo Coria in a match that lasted over 4 hours and 40 minutes and went to 5 sets. Then Zabaleta won his second title in Båstad defeating Nicolas Lapentti 6–3 6–4. At the after match presentation the organisers played a recording of the ABBA song "Money, Money, Money" that Zabaleta made with Younes El Aynaoui which the crowd enjoyed and had a good laugh about. ^[3]. Zabaleta followed up with a semi final in Kitzbühel losing to reigning French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

In 2004 Zabaleta had defended his title in Båstad against childhood friend and French Open champion Gastón Gaudio 6–1 4–6 7–6(4). He made the semi finals of the Italian Open defeating Tim Henman and Nicolás Massú who were both in the top 15 at the time, before losing to Carlos Moyà. He also had quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Kitzbühel.

Zabaleta started 2005 with quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar losing to Fernando González. After pushing the world number 1 Roger Federer to 3 sets in Miami Masters. In the quarter finals of the Monte Carlo Masters, Zabaleta was leading David Ferrer by a set and had to be carried off the court with a foot injury which kept him out for two months and he missed the French Open in the process. He came back to play in Båstad and lost in the quarter finals to Tomáš Berdych and made the semi finals in Kitzbühel and after a series of poor results, then he had surgery on his knee.

Zabaleta continued to suffer knee problems in 2006 and finished outside the top 100 for the first time since 1997. He started 2007 by winning the La Serena Challenger defeating Juan-Pablo Brzezicki and was a finalist in Florianopolis losing to Óscar Hernández. After qualifying for the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Zabaleta reached the final without losing a set and in the process defeated both finalists from 2006 Mardy Fish and Jürgen Melzer before losing to Croat Ivo Karlović. Zabaleta won the Bermuda Challenger and with this victory is back inside the top 100 in the ATP rankings.

[edit] Personal and miscellaneous

In 2004 he started his own show called Tenis Pro in which he takes the video camera with him to all the tournaments and highlights life on tour in a light hearted manner and along with Juan Ignacio Chela conduct various interviews with other players, along with other various skits.

[edit] Singles titles (6)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (3)
Challengers (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	April 22, 1996	Birmingham	Clay	Bill Behrens	6–4 6–4
2.	November 2, 1998	Bogotá	Clay	Ramon Delgado	6–4 6–4
3.	July 7, 2003	Båstad	Clay	Nicolas Lapentti	6–3 6–4
4.	July 5, 2004	Båstad	Clay	Gaston Gaudio	6–1 4–6 7–6
5.	January 15, 2007	La Serena	Clay	Juan Pablo Brzezicki	6–2 6–4
6.	April 16, 2007	Bermuda	Clay	Frank Dancevic	7–5 5–7 6–3