'How has he done that': Roger Federer 'sorcery' stuns tennis world

Roger Federer has sent the tennis world into meltdown with an insane moment at the Italian Open.

The Swiss legend saved two match points against Borna Coric on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Italian Open.

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Federer came through 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) against the 13th seed after earlier beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-3 in the second round, as players doubled up after rain wiped out play on Wednesday.

It was a massive scare for the 20-time grand slam champ, who produced a moment of absolute magic late in his win over Coric.

With scores locked at 5-5 in the third set, Coric was dominating a rally at 15-30 on Federer’s serve, before the World No.3 pulled out an extraordinary winner.

Forced deep into the corner on his backhand side, Federer left Coric completely stunned with a superb drop shot that gave his opponent absolutely no chance.

“How has he done that?” one commentator said.

“That’s amazing, that’s genius,” another added.

Tennis TV went as far as to call it “sorcery.”

And fans absolutely lost the plot.

Federer, a four-time finalist in Rome, trailed 0-4 before dropping the first set, coming back in the second and saving two match points in the third set tie-break.

“Things definitely went my way tonight,” said Federer.

Nadal and Djokovic cruise

Rafael Nadal dropped just two games throughout the day, dispatching Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-0 in the third round after earlier also dropping just one game against France’s Jeremy Chardy.

“I have been improving every week,” said Nadal, who next plays fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco as he targets a first title on clay this season before his French Open defence.

“It’s been a peculiar clay court season for me. I had some tough period of time. Has been little bit difficult to hold the body and the tennis level for every day. I just try. I have another chance tomorrow.”

Novak Djokovic, a four-time Italian Open winner, next plays Argentine seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in the semi-finals.

Djokovic beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-0 after earlier easing past Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-3.

However, Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios was disqualified after a foul-mouthed rant during his third-round match against Norway’s Casper Ruud which could land him with a lengthy suspension.

with AFP