Federer aims for title in Istanbul

Tennis great Roger Federer will be competing for a title in a 19th country when he heads the lineup at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open this week as Turkey hosts its first ATP World Tour event.

The world number two has won 84 titles in 18 countries on the ATP World Tour during his Hall of Fame career, and is looking forward to the prospect of adding an 85 title and 19th country to the list.

Federer endured a tough start to his clay-court season in 2015, losing in the round-of-16 to Gael Monfils at the Monte Carlo Masters, and will now try to make up for it at the Garanti Koza Arena in Istanbul.

The Swiss legend is the only top-10 player in the 28-man field - with world number 11 Grigor Dimitrov the second seed.

"I always play the tournaments to win them," said the 23-year-old Bulgarian from Haskovo. "No matter who the other opponents are, my goal is the same in Istanbul." 

Tournament organizers of the ATP 250 event could have their dream match-up in the second round, with Federer potentially to play Turkey's top player, Marsel ?lhan.

?lhan is the No. 1 player in Turkey at No. 84, and recently reached a career-high No. 77 on March 2. 
The 27-year-old reached the quarterfinals in Dubai and was runner-up on home soil at the Mersin Challenger two weeks ago.

Istanbul resident ?lhan will first have to beat Jarkko Nieminen to earn a clash with Federer, who has a first-round bye.

The other Turkish player in the field is local wild card Cem ?lkel, a 19-year-old ranked No. 423. ?lkel, who will make his ATP World Tour main draw debut when he plays Daniel Gimeno-Traver, is also a member of the Turkish Davis Cup team.

?lhan and ?lkel will also compete for the doubles title.

Also...