Marsel İlhan ( uz, Marsel Qahhorovich Hamdamov; born 11 June 1987) is a
Turkish professional tennis player, who was ranked No. 1 in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
and with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2015. He is the first ever
Turkish player to reach the second round in a Grand Slam tournament, as well as the first Turkish player to win a Challenger Tournament and also the first to enter the top 100 in the world rankings (first ranked 96th in September 2010).
Early Tennis Career
Born in the
Uzbek SSR in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
(now
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
), he emigrated to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
with his mother in 2004 and he started to play for the Taçspor Tennis Club of İstanbul. He was initially sponsored by
Kia Motors Turkey. After several years of intensive training with his new coach
Can Üner, a former
Turkish tennis player, he made an unprecedented jump within one year from No. 1320 to No. 320 in 2007.
[Marsel İlhan Wimbledon'da - Hürriyet]
/ref>
2007–2008
During 2007 and 2008 he won several Future Tournaments and in July 2008, he won his first ATP Challenger
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
title at Ramat Hasharon Israel Open
The Israel Open (also known as the Electra Israel Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour. It has been held annually in Ra'anana, Israel
Israel (; he, י� ...
by defeating Ivo Klec from Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
by 2 sets 6–4, 6–4.
2009
At the 2009 US Open, İlhan qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. In doing so, he became the first Turkish player in the modern era to do so. In the first round, he defeated Christophe Rochus
Christophe Rochus (born 15 December 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Belgium.
Rochus is the older brother of Olivier Rochus. He reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2005 and was runner-up in two ATP tournam ...
from Belgium in a five-set thriller. It was his first career ATP and Grand Slam win. He lost his second-round match against John Isner in straight sets.
İlhan, in October qualified for the 2009 PTT Thailand Open. He defeated his first-round opponent Benjamin Becker, but then lost to Jürgen Melzer.
2010
In the first qualification round of 2010 Australian Open
The 2010 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 18 to 31 January. It was the 98th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year.
In the singles competi ...
he defeated Canadian Peter Polansky 6–1, 6–2. In the second qualification round he beat British No.2 Alex Bogdanovic
Aleksa Bogdanovic ( sr, Алекса Богдановић, Aleksa Bogdanović; born 22 May 1984) is a retired Serbian-born English tennis player and former UK no 2. On the professional tour, he won 9 Challenger titles and 4 Futures events, but ...
with the same score 6–4, 6–4. In the 3rd qualification round Marsel lost 1–2 to German tennis player Dieter Kindlmann after a tough game in which he lost the first set 5–7, won the second easily 6–1 and lost the final set 9–11, in a game that lasted well over 3 hours.
However, due to Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
's injury a spot opened up for an additional player to appear on the main draw. Marsel became the "Lucky Loser" and progressed to the 1st round of Australian Open 2010. Marsel Ilhan proved that he was a worthy "Lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...
" as he easily defeated former World No. 4 Sébastien Grosjean in 3 sets 6–4, 6–3, 7–5. In the second round Marsel lost to world No. 11 Chilean Fernando González in three sets: 3–6, 4–6, 5–7.
In the first round of Wimbledon 2010 he defeated Brazilian Marcos Daniel
Marcos Diniz Daniel (born July 4, 1978 in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul) is a retired professional tennis player from Brazil who turned professional in 1997. The right-hander reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 56 in Septembe ...
3–2, where he made a superb comeback from 0–2 and eventually won the match. In the second round, he played against current World No. 37 player, Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
and lost in four sets: 4–6, 4–6, 6–3 and 3–6.
On 20 September 2010 he won his second ATP Challenger Tournament, in Banja Luka
Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
on clay by beating Pere Riba in the final 2–0, 6–0, 7–6. In the following Challenger Cup, the 2010 Türk Telecom İzmir Cup, he reached the final and despite losing, his ranking increased to a career-record 96th in the world - the highest ever for a Turkish tennis player.
2011
He got his highest ATP ranking position (No. 87) as of January 2011. Therefore, he played directly in the maindraw 2011 Australian Open
The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were ...
for the first time during a Grand Slam tournament in his professional career. He lost in the first round to world No. 10 Russian Mikhail Youzhny in 3 sets 6–2, 6–3, 7–6.
In the 2011 Indian Wells Masters, he lost against Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
from Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
in straight sets 6–2 and 7–6. Marsel participated in the second ATP Masters tournament the Miami Masters as a qualifier after negative results from the beginning of 2011. However, he reached the second round in Miami again, but in this round he lost to world No. 17 Serbian Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 ...
in 2 sets 6–3, 6–3.
In late May, he qualified as a "Lucky Loser" into his first French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...
and progressed to the first round. Marsel defeated former World No. 2 Tommy Haas 6–4, 4–6, 7–6, 6–4 in the first round. However, after a gruelling 3h 58m battle with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, he succumbed in five sets 4–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–4, 11–13.
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 41 (23–18)
Doubles: 3 (1–2)
Performance timeline
Singles
References
External links
Official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilhan, Marsel
Ethnic Tajik people
1987 births
Living people
Turkish male tennis players
Uzbekistani emigrants to Turkey
Turkish people of Uzbekistani descent
Naturalized citizens of Turkey
People from Samarkand
Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey
Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games
Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis