Australian Open: Sebastian Ofner loses qualifying match after prematurely celebrating victory
Sebastian Ofner of Austria thought he had advanced in his Australian Open qualifier on Wednesday, but he needed to check the scoreboard. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) (Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)
Sean LeahyContributing writerWed, January 14, 2026 at 5:39 PM UTC·1 min read
Sebastian Ofner needed to heed the wise words of Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz during his Australian Open qualifying match on Wednesday:
“It ain't over till it's over."
The 29-year-old Austrian faced Nishesh Basavareddy in the second round of qualifying in hopes of making it to the tournament’s main draw.
After splitting the opening two sets in the best-of-three match, Ofner took a commanding 6-1 lead in the third-set tiebreak. Thinking it was like an ATP Tour tiebreak, he won a seventh point and celebrated as if the match were over. Except that it wasn't, and the umpire had to remind Ofner that Grand Slam qualifiers are played to 10 points.
The match would then proceed to fall apart for Ofner, who would lose 12 of the next 16 points and ultimately the match to the 20-year-old American, who gave the Tyrese Haliburton/Reggie Miller “choke” gesture after the final point.
When your brain calls match point before the umpire does... pic.twitter.com/r1i49K1k2V
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 14, 2026
Basavareddy would take the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 [11] to set up a final-round qualifier against George Loffhagen of Great Britain.
Ofner’s response to the hiccup was via an Instagram story where he posted simply, “S**t happens.”
