Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos Win Barcelona Open for Sixth ATP Masters 1000 Title

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos have added to their hardware collection.

The 38-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and 39-year-old Argentine professional tennis player beat Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 6-2, 6-2 for the men’s doubles title at the Barcelona Open.

In the process, Granollers and Zeballos captured their sixth ATP Masters 1000 crown as a team on Sunday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

In a rain-disrupted final, the top seeds were dominant throughout. They won 81 percent (26/32) of their first-serve points and saved both break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to triumph after 69 minutes.

Granollers and Zeballos lead Arevalo and Pavic 2-0 in the teams’ Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“It is always special to win a Masters 1000 title, so we are very happy with the way we played all week,” Granollers said. “It was unbelievable how we played.”

Granollers and Zeballos, who are joint No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, have now lifted the trophy in Rome twice, having also won in 2020.

“I think we are like wine,” Zeballos said. “We are getting older and we are getting better. We have a lot of confidence and have been playing well the last weeks and year.”

The Spanish-Argentine pair was dominant throughout their run in the Italian capital. They did not drop a set, defeating singles stars Alexander Bublik and Ben Shelton in the semifinals. Granollers has now won 26 tour-level doubles titles, while Zeballos has lifted 21.

Granollers and Zeballos are currently second in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

They reached the title match at the ATP Finals last season.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos Advance to Title Match at ATP Finals

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are one win away from the title…

The 37-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and his 38-year-old Argentine professional doubles partner have advanced to the championship match at the the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time together to keep their Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 hopes alive.

Granollers and Zeballos, the tournament’s fifth seeds, overcame Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday after one hour and 20 minutes in Turin.

Granollers and Zeballos are making their fourth appearance together at the year-end event, where they lost in the semifinals in 2020 and 2021.

They’ll look to go all the way on Sunday when they meet defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who defeated fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

“We are very happy,” Granollers said. “It is our third semi-final here at the Finals and we are happy to be in the final this time. We will try to enjoy the match and play our best tennis.”

Granollers and Zeballos are up to third in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and will end the season in first place if they win the title in Turin. Already-eliminated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are currently first. Bopanna and Ebden are now out of the race.

“We tried to think that every match was a final because every match was against a great team,” Zeballos said on their run. “We tried to be positive and offensive and it is working so far so we will try the same tomorrow.”

Earlier this season, Granollers and Zeballos clinched the crown at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai. Granollers is chasing his second title at the year-end event having triumphed with Marc Lopez in 2012.

Competing inside the Pala Alpitour, Granollers and Zeballos were comfortable on serve and were clinical on return in crucial moments. They pounced on two inconsistent serving games from Ebden, one in each set, to earn victory.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos Advance to ATP Finals Doubles Semifinals

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos remain perfect…

The 37-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and his 38-year-old Argentine professional doubles partner maintained their perfect start at the 2023 ATP Finals with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Thursday in Turin, Italy.

Granollers and Zeballos notched a break in each set to wrap an 84-minute win and ensure they will finish at the top of Red Group with a 3-0 record.

They will now prepare for their third ATP Finals semifinal as a team, having also reached that stage in 2020 (in London) and 2021 (in Turin).

The win also kept alive Granollers and Zeballos’ hopes of clinching the Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 honor for the first time.

The pair is currently fifth in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, but can jump to a first-place finish by lifting the ATP Finals trophy for the first time as a team.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and his doubles partner, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, advanced from Red Group in second position after they saved a match point before downing top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-4, 3-6, 15-13 earlier on Thursday.

Rafael Nadal to Lead Spanish Team at Next Month’s ATP Cup

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is headed back to the court next month…

The 34-year-old Spanish tennis star is set to return for the ATP Cup, the season-opening men’s team tennis event, starting February 1, but the United States will be missing because of a change in format that has halved the field.

Nadal, last year’s runner-up, will be joined in the tournament by last year’s ATP Cup champion Novak Djokovic. His Spanish team includes Roberto Bautista Agut, Marcel Granollers and Pablo Carreno Busta.

Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez will represent Argentina in this year’s tournament, while Alex de Minaur will play for Australia and Steven Diez will represent Canada.

The inaugural event last year featured 24 teams and was played in three Australian cities, with Djokovic’s Serbia team beating Nadal and Spain in the final at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.

The February 1-5 second edition will involve 12 teams and be played entirely at Melbourne Park amid COVID-19 restrictions, along with WTA and ATP tournaments, in the week leading into the Australian Open.

The draw will be held on January 20, with teams divided into four groups. The winner of each round-robin group will advance to the semifinals.

Qualification for the ATP Cup was based on the ranking of each country’s top player, with Australia included on a wild-card entry. Other competing countries include Austria, Russia, Greece, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Japan, France and Canada.

All players arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open will be required to quarantine for 14 days before the delayed start of the season’s first major. The Australian Open is usually staged in the last two weeks of January, but it has been pushed back to February 8-21 because of travel and other restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Qualifying for the men’s singles draw will take place in Doha, Qatar, and for the women’s in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, both running January 10-13.

As with other sports, the international tennis calendar was disrupted in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, including the postponement of the French Open‘s start from May to September, and the cancellation of Wimbledon for the first time since World War II.

Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah Make History After Winning US Open Men’s Doubles Title

Posted on September 7, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are making it a habit…

The 33-year-old Colombian professional tennis player and his 32-year-old compatriotdefeated Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 7-5 in the final on Friday to become the first Colombian men’s team to win the doubles title at the US Open.

Cabal and Farah were already the first men’s doubles pairing from Colombia to win a Grand Slam trophy and to be ranked No. 1 after they won Wimbledonthis year.

They followed their Wimbledon championship with another strong run through the US Open and won their fifth doubles title of the season.

They became the sixth team to win Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year in the Open era.

Cabal and Farah celebrated Friday a year after they were knocked out in the semifinals by eventual champs Mike Bryan and Jack Sock.

Zeballos Defeats Karen Khachanov to Reach Barcelona Open Semifinals

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Horacio Zeballos is one win away from a long-awaited return to a tournament final… But, he’ll have to take down the defending champion to get there.

The 32-year-old Argentine tennis player didn’t drop a serve in beating Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-1 at the Barcelona Open to reach the semifinals.

Zeballos, currently ranked No. 84 in the world, will play defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Zeballos is trying to reach his first ATP final since a memorable title run at the Chile Open four years ago.

Zeballos won his first pro title in February 2013 at that same Viña del Mar tournament. In the final, he beat Nadal, becoming one of the only four players (with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) to beat the former world no. 1 in a clay-court final.

Zeballos Loses to Novak Djokovic, But Ends Up A Winner on Twitter

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

He may have lost his match, but Horacio Zeballos ended up a winner on Twitter.

Following the 31-year-old Argentine tennis player’s loss in the second-round at the Qatar Open to former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Zeballos asks his opponent to pose for a selfie.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion cheerfully obliged.

“I just have to mention that making a selfie after the match was over, that was the first time that I ever had this kind of experience in my career,” Djokovic said on court after beating Zeballos 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday. “So, Horacio, well done. Very original.”

“Eehhh sorryy. Creo que tengo la mejor selfie del dia jejeje. Que groso Nole.un genio!! Y yo figuretiiii.. Me encanto!!,” posted Zeballos on Twitter, along with the selfie.

Djokovic managed to break the Argentine once in each set while never facing a break point on the other side.

“Credit to Zeballos for playing some fearless tennis,” said Djokovic, the defending champion. “He was stepping in and trying to go for his shots. He wasn’t backing up to the baseline.”

Zeballos Defeats Fernando Verdasco to Reach the Fourth Round at the Miami Open

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Horacio Zeballos continues his winning ways…

The 30-year-old Argentine tennis player continued his remarkable run at the Miami Open by defeating Fernando Verdasco 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the third round.

It was his first victory over Verdasco in three matches.

Zeballos entered the tournament only after Roger Ferderer withdrew on Friday because of a stomach virus. After losing in the qualifying final round to Yoshihito Nishioka, Zeballos was then chosen as the last of three lucky losers.

“I’m so happy,” Zeballos said. “I’m excited to be here playing with such great players. Two days ago, I was out. Now, I’m in the [fourth] round. Of course, I’m really happy and enjoying this moment like it is my first time.”

So far, he’s made the most of the second chance. He defeated Juan Martin del Potro in the second round before stunning Verdasco.

Zeballos is just the fourth lucky loser to advance to the fourth round. If he wins again, he will become the second to reach the quarterfinals. Ivan Ljubicic did it in 2001.

“These wins are very significant because they will help my ranking, and that will help me get into bigger tournaments,” Zeballos said. “The stands were full, it was my first time beating Verdasco, so it was huge for me.”

It appeared the run was over when Zeballos started slow against Verdasco. After rallying to tie the score in the second set, he faced match point while serving at 5-6 in the third. Zeballos won the set to force a tiebreaker.

“Winning that match today was the equivalent of playing seven Challengers in terms of points and winnings,” Zeballos said. “So I’m very happy, a little tired, but very excited to be for the first time in the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament, having won two matches against opponents who are more accomplished than me and that gives me confidence that I can play at this level and I can keep improving my game.”

Zeballos Defeats Juan Martin del Potro at the Miami Masters

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Horacio Zeballos has dashed one tennis champion’s comeback dreams…

The 30-year-old Argentine tennis player defeated Juan Martin del Potro in the second round of the Miami Masters.

Zeballos did not originally have a spot in the main draw. But when Roger Federer withdrew from the event with a stomach virus, Zeballos was given a chance to play Del Potro on the show court in Florida.

Del Potro, a former US Open champion, started as favorite but he failed to create a single break point as Zeballos ran out a 6-4 6-4 winner.

Zeballos, looking for his first tour-level win of the year, made good on his opportunity by serving smartly and avoiding del Potro’s fearsome forehand. The left-handed Zeballos fired six aces and made 77 per cent of first serves, most of which were directed to del Potro’s backhand. He only dropped nine points on serve and did not face a break point in the 81-minute encounter.

“He played well,” said del Potro of his opponent. “He’s a lefty, he can play to my backhand easier than anyone else. He played very smart.”

Zeballos’ opponent in the third round will be Fernando Verdasco, who scored his first win in three ATP Head2Head meetings with Jeremy Chardy, 6-4, 6-4.

Delbonis Defeats Albert Montanes to Reach the Brazil Open Semifinals

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

There’s no crying for Argentina’s Federico Delbonis, only cheering…

The 23-year-old professional tennis player soundly defeated Spain’s Albert Montanes in just over an hour to advance to the Brazil Open semifinals.

Delbonis, currently ranked No. 61 in the world, beat Montanes in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

He’s now one win away from reaching the second ATP tournament final of his career as he continues his quest to win his first career title.

Delbonis will next face either home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil or Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t such a positive experience for his fellow countrymen…

Top-seeded Tommy Haas came back to defeat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.

Haas broke Zeballos’ serve twice in a row in the decisive set to close the match and take a step closer to his second final of the year.

Haas will next play Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, who reached his first ATP semifinal with an upset 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina.

“Lorenzi has been around for a long time so this is a goal I’m sure he has been waiting to achieve for a lifetime,” Haas said. “He has nothing to lose and is going to try to go one more and get to his first ATP tour final. He is a dangerous player. I’m going to have to try to play some of my best tennis.”

The 114th-ranked Lorenzi broke Monaco’s serve to go up 4-3 in the final set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 34 minutes at the Ibirapuera Arena.

The 32-year-old Italian squandered a match point before losing the second set, but was in control in the third to pick up the win in the ATP 250 tournament in South America’s biggest city.

Lorenzi served 12 aces en route to his first pro semifinal after five career quarterfinal losses.

“I’m very happy to finally break through to the semifinals,” Lorenzi said. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities before but was never able to come up with the victory at this stage. For sure this is one of my greatest weeks on the tour.”

The 43rd-ranked Monaco was trying to win his 200th clay-court match. He is the fifth-highest winner on the surface, behind Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro.

Monaco had a set point in the first set but couldn’t capitalize on it.

“It was a very close match, he had his chances in the first set and I had mine in the second, it was very difficult,” Lorenzi said.

Nadal, the defending champion, is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He chose to play at the first edition of the Rio Open, which he won last week.

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