Court-invading cat narrowly avoids Roman tragedy

Fans and commentators were left scratching their heads at the Italian Open when a four-legged court invader caused havoc during a doubles match.

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo were squaring off against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the quarter-finals of the event when a cat came out of nowhere and ran across the court.

The players were mid-point when the animal made its dash across the clay surface, but the kamikaze run almost ended in disaster.

The cat was just in front of the net in the middle of the court when one of the players smashed an attempted lob over the other side of the net.

Incredibly, the ball came within a whisker (no pun intended) of smashing into the fortunate feline as it sprinted from one side of the court to the other.

Luckily for the cat no harm was done as it made its way into the stands and out of the stadium.

Understandably, the umpire called for the point to be replayed, with Cabal and Farah going on to win the match in straight sets, 6-3 7-5.