Sebastian Ofner made a terrible error in Australian Open qualifying, celebrating victory too early before going on to lose the match and crashing out.
Facing Nishesh Basavareddy in the second round of qualifying in Melbourne, the Austrian thought he had won when moving 7-1 ahead in the third-set tiebreak.
The 29-year-old raised both arms in the air in celebration before giving a fist pump and then tapping his head knowingly as he walked to the net to shake hands with his opponent.
However, unfortunately for Ofner, third-set tiebreaks in Australian Open qualifying are played to 10 points, meaning he still needed three more points to win and only realised his error when it was pointed out to him by the chair umpire, forcing him to sheepishly shuffle back to the baseline to continue the contest.
Perhaps inspired by his opponent’s grave error, Basavareddy suddenly upped his game, reeling off eight of the next nine points to move within match point of victory, before fending off two match points himself and then converting on his second opportunity to seal an unlikely 4-6 6-4 7-6 (13-11) triumph.
The 20-year-old celebrated his genuine victory by holding his hands to his neck in a ‘choking’ gesture and letting out a roar of triumph as a despondent Ofner trudged forward to shake his hand.
“I knew there was still some time… In a super [match] tiebreak, you always have a chance, so I kept believing,” Basavareddy told the Australian Open website after his win.
“After I won that next point [at 1-7] I was like – generally when that happens, you start overthinking like, ‘oh, I thought I already won the match, through to the next round’. So yeah, that definitely gave me a little bit of hope.
“I saw him tense up a little bit, but the balls were quite old there, so every rally was a war and that was my main focus, just to put as many balls in play.”
Basavareddy will next face Great Britain’s George Loffhagen for a place in the Australian Open main draw, looking to return to Melbourne Park, where last year he won the opening set against Novak Djokovic before losing in four to exit at the first-round stage.
