Former world number 21 Mariano Zabaleta produced arguably the most commanding performance of the tournament so far in destroying the number eight seeded German Bjorn Phau 6-2, 6-2 yesterday.

The 28-year-old Argentinian has been ravaged by injuries in the past year, but has run into a rich vein of form at just the right time with only a few weeks to go before what he and many other South Americans consider the most important Grand Slam of the year — the French Open.

As a qualifier, the dirt-ball specialist made it through to the final of the US Clay Court Championships in Houston last week, beating both Mardy Fish and James Blake along the way before losing in straight sets to Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.

And the way in which he totally overwhelmed Phau yesterday in between the three rain delays — with the German looking totally bereft of ideas against Zabaleta’s penetrative groundstrokes and superior court coverage — certainly suggested that he must be considered one of the favourites this week to take the title.

Zabaleta, who was the number one ranked junior in the world back in the early 1990s, missed seven months of action last year after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair a broken bone.

As a result his ranking fell dramatically and despite an excellent performance in Houston and having beaten the very best on clay at one time or another, he will now have to subject himself to the nightmare of qualifying when he arrives at Roland Garros next month.

“The draw for the French closed yesterday, so unfortunately I’m going to have to go through the qualies,” he said while having a large bag of ice applied to a sore left foot.

“It’s not the end of the world though because I’m playing very well at the moment and am full of confidence after some big wins last week, so I don’t see any problems with getting through into the main draw.

“I’m just really happy to be back playing again. I was out for a very long time after the operation and you never know what is going to happen with knee injuries. But it is absolutely perfect at the moment, though as a player you always have a few aches and pains.

“But now I am back , I’m playing well and I will try and get as many matches and wins under my belt before the French.”

Meanwhile, rain continued to disrupt play at Coral Beach yesterday as the court sweepers were kept busy preparing the courts for seemingly endless re-starts.

With the water table so high at present, it took no more than a short, sharp shower — of which there were several — to hold up the action for up to 40 minutes or more at a time.

But mercifully by mid-afternoon the pattern of incoming clouds followed by short periods of clear skies was interrupted long enough for all of the first round matches to be completed.

General ticket sales for the event have been incredibly poor so far, however, and organisers are praying that the weather improves as the tournament builds towards a climax.

Elsewhere yesterday, the American qualifier of eastern European decent Nikita Kryvonos saw off the more-fancied American Kevin Kim 6-1, 6-3, in a match that had been held over after the heavens opened for about the fifth time on Monday evening.

Kryvonos wasn’t even seeded in the qualifying draw and as such had to get through three matches just to make it to the XL’s first round — with yesterday’s game being his fourth match in as many days.

Other results saw Austria’s Daniel Koellerer defeat Cecil Mamiit 6-2, 6-3 while the left-handed number seven seed Juan Pablo Guzman from Argentina needed three sets to see off the challenge of fellow Argentinian Gustavo Marcaccio 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The USA’s Wayne Odenisk defeated Michael Przysiezny of Poland in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

And in last night’s action, American Bobby Reynolds survived two tough sets to defeat Italian Davide Sanguinette 7-5, 6-4 in a second round match.

Play continues today with top seed Sam Querrey taking on Daniel Koellerer of Austria in the second match on Centre Court this afternoon while this evening’s feature singles will see the talented young American Scoville Jenkins meet Austrian Alexander Peya at 6.30.