PARIS: World number four and defending champion Marin Cilic was dumped out of the clay-court ATP event in Istanbul in his first match by unseeded Tunisian Malek Jaziri on Thursday.
Former US Open champion Cilic was the top seed in Turkey, but was well-beaten 6-4, 6-2 by world number 78 Jaziri in their second-round encounter.
Croatia's Cilic, who lost in both last year's Wimbledon final and January's Australian Open final to Roger Federer, was playing in his first match since a defeat by Kei Nishikori at the Monte Carlo Masters two weeks ago.
Jaziri will take on either Brazilian Thiago Monteiro or Czech Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals.