At the end of the 1997 season he reached his best ranking of 131 in the world, following a year which included wins over Karol Kučera in St Poelten and Carlos Costa in Santiago.

His defeat of Ecuador's Nicolás Lapentti in five sets started Chile's campaign and he finished off the tie by beating Luis Morejón in a dead rubber to secure a 4–1 win.

With the tie level at 1-1, a scoreline which included a loss for Silberstein to Hernán Gumy, he teamed up with Ríos in the doubles to beat Javier Frana and Luis Lobo in five sets.

Ríos then gave Chile the tie over their South American rivals with victory in the first of the reverse singles, setting up a qualifying match against India.

At the 1995 Pan American Games he won a bronze medal for Chile in the men's doubles event, with partner Sergio Cortés.