Antalya organizing its inaugural ATP event
The worldu2019s eighth ranked tennis player Austrian Dominic Thiem and Turkish player Marsel u0130lhan played an exhibition game in a mini court set up on the historical Aspendos Ancient Theater in Antalya as part of the Antalya ATP tournament.


Antalya is organizing its inaugural ATP event on grass just a week before Wimbledon, at the hotel resort Kaya Palazzo Belek. On seven grass courts, a set of players are trying to catch the eye a week before Wimbledon.

Dominic Thiem is the top seed and the only player from the top 30, with veterans Paolo Lorenzi, Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer following him. Thiem and Turkish player Marsel İlhan played their first games yesterday, as of press time. The eighth-ranked Thiem faced Indian Ramkumar Ramanthan while Marsel İlhan took on Slovakian Martin Klizan.

This is the 16th tournament of the season for Dominic Thiem, who will likely face Viktor Troicki in the quarter-final. Marcos Baghdatis and Nikoloz Basilashvili will also look to take their chances from this part of the draw. Struggling Spaniard David Ferrer wasted a wild card for a young and promising player, taking the fourth seed in a weak draw. Besides him, there is also Yuichi Sugita, Hyeon Chung, Martin Klizan, and Marsel İlhan, and all of them have a shot of reaching the semi-final.