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'Federer has absolutely no right to hit that shot'

Roger Federer left fans and commentators stunned with a simply sublime backhand passing shot against Mischa Zverev in Halle.

Federer beat Zverev 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to advance to the last eight of Germany's Halle Open, the 18-time grand slam champion sharpening his grasscourt game ahead of Wimbledon.

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And one particular shot showed his Wimbledon rivals he hasn't lost a thing during his time away from the ATP tour.

Image: Getty
Image: Getty

Zverev looked to have hit the perfect volley during one rally in the second set, but the Swiss legend somehow produced an incredible backhand winner down the line while on the run.

"Genuinely magnificent all ways round," one commentator said.

"What a volley and then what a response."

Too good. Image: Tennis TV
Too good. Image: Tennis TV

Another commentator was equally as stunned: "Federer's got absolutely no right to hit that pass," he said.

"You just have to say too good."

It was reminiscent of a similarly brilliant shot from Bernard Tomic earlier in the tournament:

Federer, who skipped the entire claycourt season after winning the Australian Open and claiming titles at Indian Wells and Miami this year, will next play defending champion Florian Mayer who beat Frenchman Lucas Pouille in three sets.

The Swiss, who lost his first comeback match in Stuttgart last week, is still lacking some game sharpness and squandered three set points at 5-4 in the first set of Thursday's entertaining serve-and-volley encounter.

He persisted and carved out two more, winning the tiebreak by whipping a crosscourt backhand winner on his fourth set point.

Zverev's erratic first serve was a liability and Federer pounced again at 4-4 in the second set to break the German, whose younger brother Alexander is through to the quarter-finals, and served out the match.

with AAP