Horacio Zeballos has been enjoying a rich run of form on the ATP World Tour. The 32-year-old Argentine reached the semi-finals last week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and is now in the quarter-finals of the BMW Open by FWU. In doubles, he and Julio Peralta prevailed last month in Houston (d. Brown/Tiafoe) and finished runner-up in February in Quito (l. Cerretani/Oswald).

Zeballos has even been making a splash on social media, posing for selfies Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic after losing to them in competitive matches in Barcelona and Doha, respectively.

He shares some of his tennis memories in this Biofile with Scoop Malinowski.

First Tennis Memory: I remember my father’s club. He has a tennis club. I started to play there and my friends are from there.

Tennis Inspirations: My father was one of them. There’s also a lot of good Argentine players like David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio. I remember watching all their matches.

Last Book Read: Game of Thrones.

First Famous Player You Met Or Encountered: Guillermo Vilas in Mar de Plata. I was eight years old. He did a clinic with the kids.

Greatest Moment Of Career: When I beat Nadal in the Vina del Mar final (2013).

Most Painful Moment: Sometime when I have to go and leave my family at home. I have to travel like for one or two months. It’s very tough.

Favorite Tournaments: Houston is one of them. I also like to play in Buenos Aires because I’m playing at home.

Why You Love Playing Tennis?: It’s a really nice sport. I’m not sitting in an office. I have the chance to be traveling around the world. See new places, see new countries. It’s beautiful.

Funniest Players Encountered: One of the funniest players is Gael Monfils.

Strangest Match: I remember one match I was leading 3-2 in the first set. We just started. My opponent said something bad to the umpire and he got disqualified, so I won [smiles]. It was at a Challenger.

Funny Tennis Memory: We have a lot of jokes whenever we are playing Davis Cup. For example, I put sticky stuff on [former] captain  [Martin Jaite]’s grip and then he couldn’t get his hand off the racquet [smiles].

Favorite Sport Outside Tennis: Chess.

Courtesy of Scoop Malinowski, tennis-prose.com. Scoop is the author of “Facing McEnroe”, “Facing Nadal, “Facing Hewitt”, “Facing Federer” and “Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew,” all available on Amazon.

Marcos Giron has grasped his wild card opportunity at the $75,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Savannah by booking a quarter-final place to continue his rebuilding process.

The 23 year old had double hip surgery at the beginning of 2016 and was forced to endure 10 months on the sidelines. However, in Savannah, Giron has rediscovered his groove. He knocked out top seed Darian King in commanding style 6-4, 6-0, before ousting last week’s champion in Tallahassee Blaz Rola 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

“It feels good. Overall I’ve been feeling good about my game and I’ve had chances to go far in Dallas and San Francisco,” said Giron. “I feel like a lot of these guys I competed against through juniors and college. I know I can play with them and beat them, it’s just a matter of doing it. I’ve been going for my shots, I’m now trusting my game.”

Rola defeated Giron en route to lifting the trophy in Tallahhassee and the American revealed it was satisfying to gain revenge on the clay of Savannah as he seeks a maiden ATP Challenger Tour semi-final.

“Oh definitely. Especially knowing that last week he was sharper than me, but then he went onto win the tournament,”added Giron. “It feels good that he’s playing solid tennis and I beat him. Darian (King) is near the Top 100 in the world (No. 108) and then I beat Rola. It’s a good start but I want to keep going.”

The 2014 NCAA Champion at UCLA believes his extended absence from the court in 2016 could become a blessing. “The 10 months out last season enabled me to spend some time at home, to reassess everything,” said Giron. “Obviously I want to do well, but I want to play a full year being healthy as a professional player and not just watching on from the sidelines. Since my injuries, I’ve been a lot more diligent with my mobility, stretching and strength conditioning.”

Giron, who reached a sixth ATP Challenger Tour quarter-final in Savannah, has been on quite a journey since his breakout in 2014, but he remains patient in his pursuit of rising up the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“I got to play John Isner as a wild card on Arthur Ashe Stadium (losing in straight sets) at the 2014 US Open, which was really cool,” explained the World No. 410. “I also got to be a Davis Cup hitting partner, so it was a pretty great start. Unfortunately the results didn’t initially follow, I’ve had a few injuries, so I’ve been back playing futures and Challengers.

“I’m glad I took the time to go to college and then I had surgery, so everybody has their own timeline. I haven’t had as much success as I’d like, but it’s tough, everybody’s pretty good. Everybody is looking for that transition up to the ATP World Tour. I think anybody can win on any week and it comes down to who converts their chances.”

Despite falling in the early stages of qualifying on the ATP World Tour at the BNP Paribas Open and at the Delray Beach Open earlier this season, Giron is determined to learn from the experiences.

“They didn’t go as I’d have liked, but it was great to see the top pros in action, to see what they do,” added the Californian. “Being in that atmosphere was pretty cool, everybody wants to play on the ATP World Tour and hopefully tournaments like this (Savannah) can be building blocks to that.”

Players from the ATP Challenger Tour have displayed their passion for the sport in community events at the St. Joseph’s/Candler Savannah Challenger this week.

Main draw wild card Christian Harrison was joined by local qualifying wild cards Sean Sculley, Blake Croyder, and Damon Gooch to take part in Kids Day down in Savannah, Georgia. The players passed on their expertise in a variety of interactive tennis activities, while some children took to the courts with some creative face paints, before they were offered the opportunity to attend the tournament to watch elite players in action.

“My favourite part was just seeing little kids loving being out on a tennis court, looking back, that’s what it was like for me growing up,” said Harrison, who is based in Florida. “Just knowing that a couple of them will now develop a love for the sport, that I have and so many of us out here have, is great.

“I love playing in Savannah. It’s full of nice people, it’s a great tournament, with great facilities. I love being back in these southern states, it’s like where I grew up. I just feel at home playing out here.”

Ladies Day was a HUGE success this morning! @jamesmcgee01 & Julian Bradley stopped by to talk and take some photos! #SavChallenger pic.twitter.com/8Vy4WYeYys

— Savannah Challenger (@Sav_Challenger) May 3, 2017

The $75,000 Challenger in Savannah also hosted its annual Ladies Day. Players Julian Bradley and James McGee, who ousted #NextGenATP prospect Denis Shapovalov in the first round, helped run a fast-paced event for local women of all skill levels, who simply love the game of tennis. After being put through their paces on court, the ladies caught some of the professionals in match play later in the day.

“It was great a great opportunity to offer a helping hand to come and meet some of the local members and to get a feel for the people from around here,” said McGee. “It’s been a great experience so far this week in Savannah. We’ve had a chance to head down town into the city, it’s a lovely place, very artsy, the people are lovely and it’s been great weather. It’s my fourth year here, I made the final a couple of years back in 2015 (l. Chung), so hopefully I’ll go one step further this year.”

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TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open – Istanbul, Turkey

Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic, Diego Schwartzman, Karen Khachanov, Guillermo Duran and Rogerio Dutra Silva were among those to attend the players’ party. The soiree took place in the Pullman hotel and Tournament Director Paul McNamee welcomed Raonic, Cilic, defending champion Schwartzman and Tomic on stage.

Canadian Raonic was a hit at the kids’ clinic.

Steve Darcis met his youngest fans for an autograph session.

BMW Open by FWU – Munich, Germany

Gael Monfils, Fabio Fognini, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alexander Zverev and Boris Becker were among those in attendance at the players’ night.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who was on hand for the tournament draw, tried his hand at traditional German grilling and met with fans at Galleria Kaufhof.

Tommy Haas donned traditional lederhosen as he bid farewell to Munich in his last match there.

Mischa Zverev took to the track for a driving experience.

Jan-Lennard Struff, Mischa Zverev, Jeremy Chardy, Fabrice Martin, Mikhail Kukushkin, Thiago Monteiro, Gerald Melzer, Daniel Masur, Maximilian Marterer and Thomaz Bellucci were on hand for pro-ams.

Millennium Estoril Open – Estoril, Portugal

Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer enjoyed a cooking experience at Fortaleza do Guincho. Watch

Juan Martin del Potro and Pablo Carreno Busta took in the beautiful views from up high after jumping behind the wheel of a Peugeot to tackle the dirt tracks of the Malveira da Serra in Cascais.

Home favourite Joao Sousa and Nicolas Almagro learned about the history of tennis in Portugal and enjoyed a bike ride ahead of the tournament. Watch

Sousa and Spaniards Ferrer and Carreno Busta shared why they were happy to be back at the Millennium Estoril Open during the players’ party at Forte Da Cruz. Watch

Third seed Gilles Muller struck eight aces and lost five of his first service points to defeat wild card Pedro Sousa 6-3, 6-2 in 67 minutes on Thursday at the Millennium Estoril Open. He will next face qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo or Taro Daniel in the quarter-finals.

Fourth seed David Ferrer, who has 696 match wins, makes his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament during the night session against fellow wild card Frederico Ferreira Silva.

The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, watched the action on day four.

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Spaniards Scrape Into Doubles SFs

Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez scraped into the semi-finals by beating fourth seeds Leander Paes and Marcelo Melo 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-8 in one hour and 39 minutes. Paes and Melo recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the second set.

Third seed Diego Schwartzman is still in contention to defend his crown at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open, advancing to the quarter-finals on Thursday with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over Jordan Thompson.

The Argentine didn’t drop serve and broke Thompson four times to reach the last eight in one hour and 21 minutes. Schwartzman has been impressive on the clay so far this season, reaching the quarter-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

“I always like to be in Istanbul. It’s my third time here and I always play really well,” said Schwartzman. “I don’t know why, but I always have a lot of confidence on this Centre Court.”

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Awaiting him is Dusan Lajovic, who rallied to defeat Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. The Serbian is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of 2017, but also produced an impressive result in March by coming through qualifying to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open.

“I had a lot of opportunities in the first set, but I kept calm after and started playing more aggressively from the baseline,” said Lajovic. “I’ve lost in three sets the past two weeks, so this week gives me a lot of confidence. I’m eager to play against Diego tomorrow.”

Lajovic improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Youzhny to 2-0. He also leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Schwartzman 1-0, scoring a 2015 Davis Cup win for Serbia in their quarter-final tie against Argentina.

Fellow Serbian Laslo Djere continued his rich run of form by defeating fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 6-3. The 21 year old, who received special exempt status into the main draw after reaching the semi-finals last week at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, broke Lorenzi twice in each set to secure the win in 77 minutes.

“I started to play really good this year in Marrakech and have kept going since then. I had a tough pre-season and worked a lot, so I knew it had to pay off,” said Djere. “I’m motivated on the court now and have confidence, so I feel I can beat anybody.”

Next up for the World No. 153 in the Emirates ATP Rankings is another Serbian in fifth seed Viktor Troicki, who defeated #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6(5). Troicki saved a set point on his serve at 4-5 in the second set before eventually wrapping up the win. Troicki now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Khachanov to 2-1, with both wins coming this year. 

DOUBLES

Czech duo Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely are through to the semi-finals after defeating second seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Dominic Inglot 6-2, 1-6, 10-4. They’ll play Aussies John-Patrick Smith and Thompson, who needed just 55 minutes to ease past Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski 6-1, 6-3.

#NextGenATP Korean Hyeon Chung recorded the biggest win of his career on Thursday when he knocked out World No. 16 Gael Monfils in a rain-interrupted encounter at the BMW Open by FWU.

Chung, currently No. 78 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, followed on from last week’s run to the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Monfils, who had been attempting to record his 400th match win. Play was suspended due to rain with Chung leading 6-2, 3-3, leading to a 90-minute delay.

“I’m so happy as it’s the biggest win of my career,” Chung told ATPWorldTour.com. “It was a tough match against Gael and I tried to stay calm all the time. The rain delay was tough, but it’s the same for all the players. I tried to keep the rallies long, as this is his first tournament on clay. I will be ready for tomorrow and I will keep trying my best.”

Monfils, a winner of six ATP World Tour titles, will now look to the Mutua Madrid Open in his bid to become the 17th active player with 400 victories, joining fellow Frenchmen Richard Gasquet (468), Gilles Simon (412) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (405). The 20-year-old Chung will challenge 2014 champion Martin Klizan, who cruised past sixth seed Mischa Zverev 6-2, 6-1.

“He played a really solid match and he was better than me,” said Monfils. “It’s good to be back on the court, rather than practising. It wasn’t easy and I had a lot of mis-hits, but Hyeon pushed me a lot and it was good to be back playing again.”

Earlier in the day, Horacio Zeballos continued his rich vein of form in a big-serving encounter with fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber. Zeballos, who reached last week’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semi-finals (l. to Nadal), saved all three break points he faced to overcome the three-time champion 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 39 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals. Zeballos, who is competing in his 15th tournament of the 2017 season, hit eight aces to 13 for Kohlschreiber, the 2007, 2012 and 2016 titlist.

Zeballos will now face qualifier Guido Pella, currently No. 158 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, who won 28 of his 34 first service points to beat 2014 runner-up and fourth seed Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in 77 minutes.

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In-Form Team Oust Top Doubles Seeds

Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic, winners of ATP World Tour doubles titles in Memphis and Budapest this year, combined to lose just six of their first service points in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over top seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. Fourth seeds Julio Peralta and Zeballos booked a spot in the semi-finals by beating Mikhail Kukushkin and Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-5 in just over 90 minutes.