Italian Open 2019:- Roger Federer Survives Five Sets in Rome

It was the second match of the day for the Swiss legend, Roger Federer where he played the Croatian, Borna Coric. Earlier today, Federer received a straight sets victory over the Portuguese tennis professional, Joao Sousa, in the opening round of the Italian Open 2019. In his second match, despite having a sluggish start, Federer battled past Coric 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) in the round of 16 at Rome Masters 2019. 

Before this encounter, Roger Federer and Borna Coric met five times in their careers and the Croatian is a tough opponent for the Swiss World Number three as he has won twice over him. And the meeting in Rome today was their first encounter on clay. 

At the pre-quarters of Rome Masters 2019, Coric sprinted to take a 4-0 lead in the opening set. The Croatian was impeccable with his returns and made the Swiss run back and forth on the court. His backhand turned out to be a robust weapon in the first set. Brilliant tennis from Coric as he pulled off the set, 6-2 and before that Federer took a medical timeout for a blister on his thumb.

In the second set,  Roger Federer made a hold by dropping a point and then complained the chair umpire for the court being wet including the line markings. In his next service game, Federer committed a double fault and then followed by a wide forehand and equalized the game to 40-40.

Though the game was little tedious, Roger Federer managed to serve out an ace at 2-1. Massive serves by Coric and errors from Federer’s end aided the Croatian to hold his serve to love in the next game.

Roger Federer earned his first break opportunity of the match and later squandered it a single hand backhand in the gallery. Nevertheless, with the cheers from the Italian crowd, he earned the next one break point with a forehand winner and received his first service break of the match.

In the next game, Roger Federer gave Coric three break opportunities and later bounced back to take five consecutive points and sealed the game to take a 5-2. Coric came up with an amazing service game by holding it to love and later broke Federer back to love and  snatched away his break of serve at 5-4.

On Coric’s serve, Roger Federer held two set points and he seized the set on the second set point. The fans rejoiced as the action in Rome was still on.

In the decider, Coric made good use of Federer’s position on the volley and placed the ball astutely on the line with a forehand winner and came across a break opportunity. Roger Federer spent some time to hold his serve at 3-2 which was followed by multiple deuces.

Nevertheless, Roger Federer being dominant with his serves took a 5-4 lead in the decider. Till then, Coric met two break points whereas Federer did not face any. A slice backhand drop shot from Federer resonated the jammed Grandstand in Foro Italico and later, as Coric flawed a ball the resonance escalated. Then, the Croatian pushed the match into the tiebreaker.

In the tiebreaker, Roger Federer saved two match points by playing short balls and crowd electrified as he earned a match point and then sealed his quarterfinal spot in Rome with a 9-7 victory in the tiebreaker.