Turkish tennis player to face world number one Djokovic

ANKARA

Turkish tennis player Marsel Ilhan, who beat Spanish world number 13 Feliciano Lopez 2-1 in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday night, will play against world number one Novak Djokovic in the tournament's quarter-final.

Marsel Ilhan met Feliciano Lopez in last the 16 stage of the tournament. Spanish player Lopez won the first set 6-3, but Ilhan broke the serves and equalized the game in the second set, 7-5. In the final set, Ilhan benefited from his opponents mistakes and dominated the game to win 6-3. The Turkish athlete thus qualified for the quarter-final stage after winning the match 2-1.

World number one Novak Djokovic eased past his Kazakh opponent Andrey Golubev 2-0 (6-1, 6-2) meaning that the Serbian player will be paired with Marsel Ilhan in the quarter-finals.

The match between Marsel Ilhan and Djokovic will be played on Thursday, Feb. 26.

The world's top three tennis players, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, are playing in the tournament held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Other than Marsel Ilhan and Djokovic, the players advancing to the quarter-finals are as follows:

Roger Federer (Switzerland) - Fernando Verdasco (Spain): 2-0 (6-4, 6-3)

Andy Murray (Great Britain) - Joao Sousa (Portugal): 2-0 (6-0, 6-2)

Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) - Simone Bolelli (Italy): 2-1 (7-6, 5-7, 6-0)

Richard Gasquet (France) - Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain): 2-1 (6-4, 3-6, 7-6)

Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) - Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan): 2-0 (6-4, 3-6, 6-4)

Borna Coric (Croatia) - Marcos Baghdatis (Greek Cypriot Adm.): 2-1 (6-4, 3-6, 6-6) - Baghdatis withdrew from the match.