Archive 2003 News Page
US Open Mariano has drawn James Blake for the 1st round of the US Open. This should be a great match as it will be between two "nice guys" of the tour. Mariano last played James in an exhibition match at Stoke Park (on grass!) and beat him, he also beat him in "main competition" at Scottsdale earlier this year. This match was really entertaining, the first set was incredible, went the distance unfortunately James won it in the tiebreak. They traded breaks in the second set and James got the lucky calls; - the third; James just took off!!! The commentators (Mark Petchy and Peter Fleming) just could not complement Mariano enough; they thought he was brilliant - they want to award him "best supporting actor!" There were over 16 thousand people watching this match - and they all saw a brilliant value for money match consisting of two extremely passionate (and attractive!) players. The Commentators kept saying that Mariano is superb; and has nothing to feel bad about; and that maybe he could reflect on the fact that he played an awesome night match on Arthur Ashe stadium in an atmosphere some player only dream about. I think Peter Fleming is a secret Mariano fan judging by the constant (see Guga match Cincy) enthusiasm he has for his game!!! Wimbledon 2002 - James "won" (M retired) Best of Luck!! More updates will follow shortly! Mariano is in Cincinnati this week. 1st round - Mariano def Guga 6-4 6-0 (55 minutes) Their last meeting was at the Australian Open 2002 - both have had a major coach and game change since then, this should be a great match! - it has a daytime centre court billing, therefore will be covered live by Sky Sports Extra. Andy won .
His first round opponent was Guga. Sky showed this match in full on Wednesday, it was brilliant, Mariano gave Guga a tennis lesson, Leif Sharif and Peter Fleming were the commentators. They thought Mariano played a flawless second set, there was nothing Guga could do to rescue the match except accept his second set bagel gratefully. His Second round opponent was Younes El Aynaoui - this match took 2 hours and 41 minutes, and was extremely close - a group of us together followed it point by break-point in the chatroom. Younes had 7 break points but was unable to convert any, Mariano had 17 break points - converted 3. Hopefully Sky will show highlights tomorrow. Message for Mariano - you now owe a group of us full manicures! *At 5-5, 30/40, El Aynaoui snapped his racket in half over his knee, he then received a point penalty which handed Zabaleta the decisive break of serve. El Aynaoui held a break point in the next game but Zabaleta rallied to close out the match.* - (Information between ** from ATP Page) Mariano's next opponet was Flavio Saretta, and was the night match on Grandstand Thursday. Mariano def Saretta 6-7 6-2 6-4 and set up a Quarterfinal meeting with Andy Roddick. Interesting Statistics. Mariano beat Guga 6-4 6-0 Gaston Gaudio took 2 hours and 41 minutes to beat Ferrero I wonder what "matches" will appear today! Mariano is in Kitzbuhel this week - along with Kitzfan, Giovi, Egg and Sara (and Atomic Kitten!). He has been seeded 9 and given a bye in the first round. His Quarterfinal Opponent was the French Open Champion and Champion Race leader Juan Carlos Ferrero He now faces Nicolas Massu in the semis Massu won... Mariano faced Nicolas Massu for the second time in a few weeks, the last time they met was at Bastad, since that meeting both Mariano and Massu have collected silverware and are both playing extremely well! - The Chilian won this encounter this time, but it was definitely a great week for Mariano!. Next tournament - TMS Montreal
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Juan Carlos Ferrero was crowned New Champion Race Leader today after winning his 3rd round match against Flavio Saretta. There was unique audio coverage of this match on the Kitzbuhel page (they forgot to turn the speaker off when they turned the pictures off after the Coria/Chela match) - The commentators raved on about JCF being New No1. The crowds were all shouting Mar i an o; and then the match started. Mariano broke the new No.1 straight away and stormed the 1st set 6-1 - he then broke him again immediately in the second!! - and then took a 4-1 lead. JCF managed to get a break back at 4-3 but then Mariano took the match 6-1 6-4!!!! It sounded like a GREAT Match!!! congratulations Champion's Race Destroyer!! Next up Nicolas Massu.
Best of luck this week! Corina was there
Bastad Sweden Mariano beat Nicholas Massu in the first round 2-6 6-3 6-3 in the Singles first round MARIANO IS THE SWEDISH OPEN CHAMPION 2003! The Final Result was Mariano def Nico 6-3 6-4 Official ATP Picture Official Reports can be found here (please add more if you find them!) Mariano and Nico's head to head record looks like this
1999 Davis Cup (Z1-2R) Hard (O) R2 Nicolas LAPENTTI 3-6 6-7(4) 0-5 Retired
(Source - ITF Tennis Player Database - www.itftennis.com)
---------------- Zabaleta through to final - Quote from Eurosport.com article
Argentine fifth seed Mariano Zabaleta reached the Swedish Open final on Saturday after scoring a surprise 2-6 6-3 6-4 win over Spanish top seed and defending champion Carlos Moya. Both players struggled throughout the match in the windy conditions but the Argentine proved the stronger player in the deciding set where he broke the Spaniard to 2-1 and then held on to serve to clinch the match.
Moya had several chances to break back but Zabaleta kept his cool and never allowed him to get back into the game, which resulted in the normally mild-mannered Spaniard throwing his racket in anger in the eighth game.
Zabaleta won on his second match point and will take on either Spanish second seed Tommy Robredo or Ecuadorian sixth seed Nicolas Lapentti who play later in the day in the second semi-final.
----------- Official Report (from Swedish Open Page) Zabaleta Through to the Final Four
Mariano Zabaleta became the first player to reach the semifinals of Synsam Swedish Open 2003. This was accomplished after an amazing comeback win against Mikhail Youzhny.
Youzhny won the first set 6-4 and was up 4-2 in the second. Up to this point, Youzhny had been dictating the game with deep ground strokes and distinct volleys. Zabaleta seemed slightly unfocused and made too many errors. But as the match went on, the Argentinean 25-year improved the level of his game. Trailing by 4-2 in the second, he went on to win the next three games. With Youzhny serving at 5-6, an incredible forehand winner gave Zabaleta another break and took the match into a third set.
In the third set, it was an all-Argentinean show. Zabaleta dominated from the beginning and only lost one game.
The semifinal is Zabaleta’s first since the beginning of March in Scottsdale. After the impressive win against Youzhny, he was very delighted and raised his arms into the sky.
- I’m very happy because I played very good today. He (Youzhny) is a good player and almost won the match, Zabaleta said.
----------- (Quote from CNNSI Tennis Article)
Moya has won all three meetings with Zabaleta, two on clay. Their last match was a three-setter two years ago in Barcelona.
"The match against Mariano will be more of a challenge," he said. "We've played against each other three times before and I won each time, but he is a better and more complete player today." (Quote Carlos Moya).
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WIMBLEDON 2003 Mariano faced Mark Philippoussis in the first round of Wimbledon. It could have been worse (Corina thinks - NO! this was terrible!!!) everyone knew that Mark is a good grass court player and provider of many excellent matches at SW19 - The Organisers did a really STUPID thing, they scheduled this match on Court 5 - which has a capacity of 60 people!!! - the match was scheduled for 12 noon start - there were 1000 people (somebody counted!) there at 10.30am. Mariano played the best match of his career on grass today!!! - it was tense, thrilling, action packed and amazing - Mark won - but Mariano had him on the ropes and really made him fight for his place in the 2nd round - infront of all the people that had flown in from Australia too!! here is a detailed report (and official pictures) Mariano is still at Wimbledon this year.... as he is also in the Doubles Tournament with Juan Ignacio Chela. Their first round opponents will be the British Pairing of Jamie Delgado and Arvind Parmar Mariano and Juan Ignacio Chela played doubles today (Thursday) against the British Pairing of Jamie Delgado and Arvind Parmar - they won 6-1 6-4 6-1
Court 19 was packed (this one actually had seats!!!) and for a time Ros and I thought we were the only people supporting the Argentines!!! - so we did so LOUDLY. Team Argentina knew we were supporting them of course..... and we knew that Team Argentina knew we knew so we decided to have fun!
A group of people behind us were really sarcastic to us - saying - dont sit next to them - they are supporting "the Argentines" - so this made us mad and I turned round and said - YEAH WE ARE!!! - BUT HERE'S A LITTLE POINT FOR YOU MATEY!!! - "THE ARGENTINES" PERSONALLY KNOW WE ARE SUPPORTING THEM!!! - do Jamie and Arvind know you are personally supporting them??? - he shut up then!!
Ros and I had great fun during this match!!! - right Ros???
Mariano and Chela played like two finely tuned orchestra instruments - they gelled, they knew what eachother was thinking - they were having fun - they were laughing at each other, with eachother and basically wiping the court with the "British Grasscourters" Their shots were incredible, their synchronised balletic-like gracefullness on the court was beautiful, the speed of their serves and the pure brilliance of their game basically made the British Pair look like ameteurs.
As a result of such a brilliant game.... Mariano chalked up his first victory at Wimbledon!!!
They then faced the No 8 seeds Damm and Suk Friday on Court 16 - at 12 noon.
This was such a fun match - ok we all knew that the Czechs were going to win it - but it was a fun match - and all 4 players on court enjoyed playing it!!! - even the Umpire enjoyed umpiring it!!!
There were quite a few Argentines watching this match (kids with Maradona 10 and Pacente 13 (?) shirts) - so there was a nice atmosphere there!
Both the Czechs got flattened, and hit by balls from their opponents.... who didn't really act as sorry as they should have done
Oh yeah Mariano got a code violation - ball abuse.... for nearly smashing the Debenture Lounge Window.... The Posh Lady in the Yellow Dress looking out actually moved out of the way...... - the Umpire gave the code violation with a big smile....
That's it for me and Wimbledon now!!! - no more queuing!!! Yippeee!! - time to catch up on my sleep....
Draw (Mariano is in section 4) FANTASY ROLAND GARROS.... Scoreboard is now online! - Mariano now has earned everyone 8 points! - 3 wins, 2 straight sets and 1 crushing of El Aynaoui!! Mariano faced Feliciano Lopez in the first round of this year's French Open. This match was totally brilliant! - The court was packed; and 75% of the support was for Mariano - there were loads of Argentina Shirts; and Flags; and the atmosphere was great. Ok so the stupid security guy ordered Marcus to stop taking pictures... which was really annoying! The first set was awesome - I dont think Lopez even got to 30 on Mariano's serve. Mariano won the first set easily 6-2! Second set was more intense. Mariano broke straight away - but for some reason Lopez decided he could return the favour! - the 2nd set went to a tiebreak which Mariano won 9-7 Mariano then won every single game left in the match taking the first round 6-2 7-6 6-0.
Lopez was meant to be a tricky player! - haha!! Mariano showed who's in charge! Today's win also means that everyone with Mariano in their team has 3 points for a straight sets win!! - there is still time to enter - you have until the start of the second round. - send me your team! Next round will be Dominik Hrbaty. Mariano destroyed Dominik Hrbaty 6-2 6-4 6-2!!
Here are the stats for the match
Dominik v Mariano stats Fantasy Roland Garros update Round three will be the winner of either Christophe Rochus or Younes El Aynaoui Best of luck!! keep winning!!! Mariano fried Younes 6-2 6-3 3-6 7-6 to reach the fourth round!!!! Here is Roland Garros' official report - YES they actually wrote a match report!!! (more please!) We had very limited coverage of the match, we had the last game in the first set, then last game of the 2nd set, then Mariano breaking Younes in the 4th and winning the incredible tiebreak!! plus all the added emotion too. The Commentator laughed as Mariano signed the camera and said that "there are loads of happy ladies around - as after all Mariano is extremely popular with the ladies - I cant think why can you? hahaha!" (talking to his fellow commentator!) Best of luck against Guillermo on Sunday Mariano!
Mariano v Coria has been suspended - 4-6 6-7 7-5
We had scoreboard coverage to start with - Eurosport promised live coverage after Venus...
Andrew Castle and Sam Smith in the Eurosport Studio PROMISED us!!!
Mariano and Coria trade breaks - but then Coria has another go - and takes Set 1 (Mariano saved 2 out of 3 set points).
Set 2 Coria storms into a 4-0 lead
and Eurosport give us Capriati!
M wins a game!!! 4-1 M breaks!!! 4-2 M holds!!! - 4-3....
and Capriati decides to take set 2 which means we have ANOTHER set to suffer before our promised Coverage!!!!!!
We get another promise of match coverage from Eurosport.
M serves to stay in the set - with a LOVE GAME!! - G serves for set 2. M has 2 break point G saves them he gets another.... and he gets the 3rd!!!! - M has leveled the set!!! wtg Mariano!
Mariano holds serve and levels up the points at 69 points each and forces G to serve to stay in the set. He holds and forces a tiebreak.
Coria wins the tiebreak and takes a 2 set lead.
Mariano must have played his socks off to come back to a tiebreak - its a huge shame Coria won the set!
3rd set
Studio commentators round up the womens event - did you know that Victor Petrov was an Olympic athlete? you do now!!! - BRITISH EUROSPORT!! get on SL Court NOW!
Coria breaks again in the 3rd - 2-0
We have COVERAGE!!! and then we see the most powerful powerplay between two people - balls were flying everywhere, they were fighting every single point like crazy - the lines were getting pummelled left right and centre, the crowds were going crazy and everyone was screaming Mariano! - there was a lovely camera-shot showing Alejandro Gattiker and Marcelo Filipini sitting together.
Eurosport only showed us 4 games - BUT they were the most incredible powerful games I have EVER seen!!! - Mariano basically REALLY showed he was NOT ready to leave the tournament yet!
Play got suspended at 4-6 6-7 (Mariano deserved to win this set) 7-5!! - match resumes tomorrow!!
Coria left the court quickly - Mariano left to a hero's welcome!
BEST OF LUCK TOMORROW MARIANO!!!!!! - WE ARE ALL BEHIND YOU!!!! FINISH THE JOB NOW!
TMS - Rome Mariano is in Rome this week - he faced David Sanchez in the first round and swiftly brushed him aside Tuesday lunch time with a score of 6-4 6-2. Roger Federer, unfortunately, beat Mariano - but please see below.
Ok - Sky Sports Extra were very kind enough to show this match live. It was a totally brilliant match! - All the Commentators thought so!!! - Peter Fleming in the studio was raving about Mariano's obvious love for the game and what a great athlete he was etc. Ok so Chris Bailey acted as if he had never heard of him - but then again I doubt Mariano's heard of him either so - no loss :-)
The match started, Barry Cowan and Bill Threlfall were the Rome Commentators. They too were raving on about how much they enjoyed watching Mariano play and what a great athlete he was - they even commented on his great genes too - which was amusing (GENES not JEANS Candi!!). They hardly mentioned the other guy on the other side of the net - this was fine by me :-). Roger won his first game easily - then we had an 18 minute game consisting of many break points for Roger - but Mariano saved ALL of them. Awesome game. Mariano was by far the better player and he even managed to break and lead at 4-2. Then, unfortunately, the sleepy Swiss guy woke up and found his ace bag. He started firing down aces when ever he got into trouble which was a shame. Mariano showed off magic, charisma, entertainment - Roger showed off Aces - which one was the most entertaining in your eyes??? THEN the most incredible thing happened. They were playing this incredible rally and then just as everyone thought Roger had won the point, Mariano went for it, turned his back to the ball and managed to just somehow flick the ball back - he wasnt watching so he didnt even dream it would reach the net - let alone skim the top of the net and glide straight passed Roger - looking completely stunned!! - and land nicely in the corner!!! - WOW! the crowd went wild - the commentators went wild - Mariano just burst out laughing!! it was brilliant!! That was immediately called "shot of the century" by the commentators - they also LOVED his response and immediately compared it to one of Pete and Andre's "special shots" but saying - this was BETTER! 100 times better!!! - this guy has "something!" WOW We got to see it again about 10 times. Mariano's game was just magical - but unfortunately Roger won - with his luck of Aces at the right time; although the scoreline was a win for Roger - Mariano won several hearts today instead!!!! Best of luck in Hamburg matey!
Mariano has been seeded 6 for this tournament - Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marat Safin are sitting in the top berths. Mariano will face Flavio Saretta (Brazil) in the first round. This is their first meeting - the Brazilian won. Mariano destroyed Ramon Sluiter 6-2 6-0!!
According to Albert Costa's official website Mariano and Albert have met twice, both in 1999 and both have a win. Costa went into this match full of confidence because he lives in Barcelona and expected the home crowd advantage. Mariano had the Hungarian element of his World Wide Fan-Collection (Kitzfan, Giovi and Egg) cheering extremely loudly for us! OK - the French Open Champion won..... but "the word on the street" (from a devout Rios fan!) says that this was THE most enjoyable match of the tournament! and that she has now easily been converted to a Mariano fan (in Marcelo's absence!)
He is also playing doubles with Chela this week - they beat Vicente and Mantilla 6-4 6-4 They faced M Damm and C Suk in the next round - the Dam Suk team won too! Next Tournament - Valencia! - best of luck from everyone here!!! Davis Cup - Argentina v Russia (feel free to add more articles if you find them!)
Results (Friday) David Nalbandian and Lucas Arnold defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Mikael Youzney in 4 sets to take the Cup away from the 2002 Champions! Mariano will be playing one of the 2 remaining matches in this tie! Mariano v Youzney (Typed whilst following the Scoreboard..........)
Mariano returns to Davis Cup action after 3 years, playing the first game on the last day of the Quarterfinals - he opens up his comeback with a Love-game! - he then instantly earns 3 break points on Youzney's serve and breaks Youzney on the 2nd break point...
Mariano stretches the lead to 3-0..............
Mariano has another love game (with the help of Ace 1) and increases the lead to 4-1, then he takes the first set 6-1 (with 3! love service games!!!!)
Mariano breaks straight away in set 2 and establishes a lead of 3-1 (Youzney tried breaking him - it didnt happen...); but then Youzney tries again and manages to pull back to 3-3
Mariano fights back to break again at 4-4 earning 2 break points - and only one is needed - he now serves for the match - has 2 set points - only one needed - Mariano wins the match (and the 4th rubber) 6-1 6-4!!!!
Congratulations Mariano - and to the rest of the Argentina Team for a great weekend!
Official Davis Cup Match Report Todd Martin took Mariano out in the 1st round. Todd Martin has always been one of the best players on tour, and although he has not been playing much recently - he has always made people like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi really struggle to beat him in the past. Here is the interview (yes! surprise surprise he actually got interviewed!!! - long isn't it!)
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T. MARTIN/M. Zabaleta 6-4, 6-4
An interview with:
MARIANO ZABALETA
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you talk about today's match a little bit? Todd Martin had not been ranked lower than 100 for more than ten years. Can you talk about it?
MARIANO ZABALETA: I know Todd is a big player. And I think he played, today he played really good. He didn't make mistakes, and he served very good. I think he played better than me.
Q. Did his height help him? That he's very tall, did that help him on the court, control the court at all?
MARIANO ZABALETA: Yeah, maybe for the serve, I don't know, yeah, have some help.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports...
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LELP - note - I think we could have asked at least 10 more questions!!! Best of luck in Estoril
1st round - Mariano def Mikael Youzney 7-6 6-1 Today's match was great!!! - it was his for the taking from the first strike of the ball; he should have won it 6-3 6-1 but accidently let go of his racket at a crucial point in the 1st set (this was quite amusing); he also had a bad call - which WAS out - well it was out from where I was sittiing (on the line in question) but the stupid line man decided to upset the player and call it in.
Mariano then had an extremely heated debate with the umpire and the line man - and then carried on in spanish to himself - the lady next to me said to me - what do you think he's saying? me - I don't know how about - "it was out you idiots???" he made a real meal of actually finishing off the set and got a huge applause when after being 2 minibreaks down in the tiebreak - he clawed his way back and took his set. It was a totally one-sided match really.
The second set started and Youzney then just could not hit a ball in to save his life. Mariano just played like a man possessed and basically said - "get off my court" to the Russian proceeding to the second round to face Rainer Schuettler again.
1st Round Mariano def Robby Ginepri (Mariano and J Chela were in the doubles - but Chela withdrew due to shoulder problems) Acapulco, Mexico Semi finals Mariano beat Guga! Final!! Callieri won in 3 sets... (scroll down for more info)
1st Round - Mariano took 1 hour and 3 minutes to destroy Filippo Voldandi 6-2 6-1 2nd Round - David Nalbandian. Mariano beat David at their first official meeting in Auckland this year.
He carried on where he left off in Mexico! - as per usual there was no coverage of this match - except the "wonderful" scoreboards. Mariano stuffed Nalbandian 6-7 (5) 6-0 6-0!!!! The No2 seed has now left the tournament again!!
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Nalbandian Was Outplayed !! :-) - (Quote from Official Yahoo report - translated)
In one of the surprises of the day, Zabaleta conquered to Nalbandian, young revelation Argentina that arrived at this tournament as ninth of the ATP.
Zabaleta imposed on himself Nalbandian 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-0.
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Quotes from Official
ATP Report There was not such good news for the second and third seeds, however, as David Nalbandian and Gaston Gaudio both made second round exits. Nalbandian, a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open and Buenos Aires this year, won the first set tie-break against fellow Argentine Mariano Zabaleta but did not win another game as Zabaleta reached his third quarterfinal of the year (Adelaide QF, Auckland SF) with a 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-0 victory. He now meets Peru’s Ivan Miranda Zabaleta: I was very happy with the way I played. It was an important match for me. I’ve been playing well but the results haven’t been coming, so it was just a matter of time. The score was a bit surprising, but I’m playing well. -------
Well done Mariano - best of luck against Miranda in the next round! Mariano def Ivan Miranda 7-5 6-3 Mariano beat Guga in 3 sets!! This is Corina's report This was such a nail-biting match. M was serving for the 1st set, but got breaked.....but
like the champion he is, he stayed focused and won the tiebreak! (scoreboard was working well for
a change...). 2nd set: M had lots of breakchances but didn't convert them,
Guga won the tiebreak easily.
3rd set: early break by M! Unfortunately Guga broke back. Guga broke again,
was serving for the set at 4-5 (not sure if he had matchpoints, I didn't
have the nerves to watch...), M managed to break back...,5 all. M hold
easily and then managed to break, converting the first matchpoint:-)!!! I
would just have loved to have seen his reaction after the matchpoint!.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID: (from ATP reports).
Zabaleta: “I was very, very happy. It was a double present to beat a player like Guga on my birthday. Last year I also beat [Magnus] Norman here on my birthday. Guga is an idol to everyone. Every time I see him on TV I want him to win because of his game and personality. He’s good for the sport. That popularity was felt here as everyone was cheering for Guga. Hopefully I’ll get some support in the final. Guga has won zillions of tournaments and I haven’t been in a final for a few years."
Kuerten: "I never had control of the match. I was always behind in the score. I was happy to reach two semifinals in two weeks but it’s frustrating not to have pushed on to the final again. Hopefully these eight matches in two weeks will give me some rhythm for upcoming tournaments.”
Mariano reached the final!!! the first of MANY finals of 2003.... He faced Augustin Callieri, unfortunately Callieri won in three tight sets. But hey, it was a final! and it was a totally fantastic incredible week!!! (There are some really great pictures on the message board).
Copa AT&T - Buenos Aires, Argentina First Round Opponent was Atilla Savolt - Mariano defeated him 6-3 6-4 Sara report - M played really well!! 2nd round Coria won in three sets.
Last official match was 2001 Vina del Mar - Coria won in 3 sets
Coria won again in three sets. Sara report - it was a pretty bad day tennis wise...
First of all its been just like Wimbledon cold, wet
and windy... in fact windier than at w (at least you
expect it to be cold there)
As a result its been less than ideal conditions for
tennis...
Hopefully the weather will improve for the doubles....
There's a decent (Spanish) match report on the Official Page site above.
Mariano will be teaming up with Gaudio this week (to the delight of Egg and Corina!). Their first round match will be between Devin Bowen and Ashley Fisher. The other guys were meant to be seeded 4 - Mariano and Gaston took the first set easily; lost the second and then took all night (ok it seemed like all night when the scoreboard insisted on freezing up leaving Corina and I in suspense waiting for a result - subtle hint Sara!) to take the 3rd set TieBreak 8-6 to win the match 6-4 3-6 7-6 (6). The dynamic duo go on to round two to face the winner of Guga/Sa or LucasArnold/Nalbandian.
Sara report - The guys played really well Summary Mariano defeated No 2 Seed David Nalbandian 2-6 7-6 6-3 Coverage via the Auckland Site's Official "Zcam" (conveniently named!!) (this costs $14.95 but provides a constant feed from Centre Court - today's match more than paid for the fee....) The Match After a shakey start (losing the 1st set 2-6) Mariano broke Nalbandian straight away in set two; of course Nalbandian returned the favour; Mariano fought hard and successfully served to stay in the match twice in the second set and then took the tiebreaker. The third set was phenomenal; Nalbandian broke him and took the lead 1-3 (time to bite all the nails again) but Mariano then slipped into Top Gear and won the next 5 games forcing the No 2 Seed and Wimbledon Finalist to leave the tournament!!! Great Match Mariano - keep going... 2nd Round - Vince Spadea Auckland was hit by terrible rains on Wednesday; this completely wiped out play for the day. Mariano was scheduled to (hopefully) play 2 matches on Thursday. He easily defeated Vince Spadea and had to wait for his Qtr final opponent to be decided before playing him again Thursday. The rain returned instead and wiped out play for the rest of the day again. Mariano def Stefan Koubek 6-2 6-1 and will now play Guga in the Semis on Centre Court! - Zcam coverage will be available. The Guga Match - Guga won 6-3 6-3. This was a great match. Ok so Guga played very impressively, so did Mariano; the points and rallies were incredible; both players flew literally all over the court. This was the first time they had met in an official match; next time may not be so easy for the Brazilian! Best of Luck in Australia! Mariano starts off the new season in Adelaide in winning style!. Singles 1st round opponent was Alexander Waske; this was be their first (official) meeting. His 2nd round opponent was Dutch Guy Martin Verkerk; Mariano beat him in straight sets 6-4 6-4!
Nikolay Davydenko is Mariano's Quarter Final Opponent. Official Yahoo Argentina Report + Terrible English Translation Doubles 1st round opponents (with Alberto Martin) were Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett - Mariano and Albert beat them 6-4 2-6 6-4! - not bad - considering they are defending champions and were seeded (3) in the tournament!. Good Luck in Auckland next week!!
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Head to Head 1-1 
Scottsdale 2003 - Mariano won!
(Stoke Park Exhibition 2003 - Mariano won!)
2nd Round - Mariano def Younes 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 (2 hours 41 minutes)
3rd Round - Mariano def Flavio Saretta 6-7 6-2 6-4! (2 hours 42 minutes)
Quarterfinal Opponent will be Andy Roddick!!
Head to Head 1-0 
Guga lasted 55 minutes!!
Mariano destroyed him 6-4 6-0!!
David Nalbandian beat Wayne Arthurs 6-0 6-4
Mariano took 2 hours and 41 minutes to beat Younes
His second round opponent was Victor Hanescu (Rom) - Mariano despatched him 6-2 7-5!
His 3rd round opponent was to be Younes El Aynaoui - but Younes withdrew due to flu
Mariano destroyed him 6-1 6-4!
Head to Head 2-2 
Mariano was straight back in action in Stuttgart
He then crushed B Rehnquist of Sweden 6-1 6-2 in round two
Qtr-finals - He fought back from being 1 set and a break down to defeat Mikael Youzney 4-6 7-5 6-1! (wtg M!)
Mariano met Carlos Moya in the semis (the top seed defending champion) and despatched him 2-6 6-3 6-4 to reach his second final of 2003!!
Official pictures can be here (please add more if you find them!) Head to Head 5-1 
1999 Hamburg Clay (O) SF Mariano ZABALETA 7-5 6-2
1999 Amsterdam Clay (O) SF Mariano ZABALETA 3-6 7-5 7-5
2002 Acapulco Clay (O) 32 Mariano ZABALETA 4-6 7-6(5) 3-0 Retired
2002 Kitzbuhel Clay (O) 16 Mariano ZABALETA 6-4 6-2
2003 Bastad Clay (0) FINAL Mariano ZABALETA - CHAMPION - 6-3 6-4
This was definitely a worrying match for us supporters - we all really wanted this match up to be Paradorn - but cest la vie! - but hey! why did we worry? Mariano just cut through the Slovak like a hot knife through butter!
Another straight sets win also means everyone with with him in their team has another 3 points (thanks mate!)
Hamburg Diary 2003 Head to Head 1-2 
Valencia
Barcelona
He faced French Open Champion Albert Costa in the second round.
Head to Head 2-1 
TMS Monte Carlo - Mariano faced Ivan Ljubicic in the first round - but unfortunately the Croatian won the match
David Nalbandian def Nikolay Davidenko in straight sets
Gaston Gaudio wiped the court with Yevgeny Kafelnikov beating him 6-4 6-0 6-2!
Miami
Indian Wells
2nd Round Mariano def Rainer Schuettler
Qtrs!! Mariano def James Blake
Mariano now faces Mark Philippoussis in the Semis! - best of luck!!!
He now faces Guga in the Semis!!! 
Head to Head 1-0 Coria 
Doubles Action:
Auckland, New Zealand 6 January 2003
Mariano defeated Vince Spadea easily
Mariano then had a 2 day break before he could play his qtr final match due to torrential rain!
Mariano defeated Stefan Koubek 6-2 6-1
Guga beat him in the semis - but it was their first official match.
This was their first official ATP match. 
The Season 2003 has begun
Mariano easily disposed of Waske 6-1 6-4.
Ok so Davydenko won - but everyone agrees that this was a great start to the year! - Keep going!!!
Their 2nd Round opponents were Florint and Ljubicic. - F&L won.