Austrian Tennis Star's Premature Celebration Leads to Stunning Australian Open Qualifying Collapse
A costly misunderstanding of the rules and a premature victory celebration led to a dramatic and crushing defeat for Austria's Sebastian Ofner in Australian Open qualifying on Wednesday. The 29-year-old veteran saw his hopes of reaching the main draw evaporate in a stunning third-set tiebreak collapse against American Nishesh Basavareddy.
Ofner, after splitting the first two sets, appeared to have secured victory when he raced to a 6-1 lead in the decisive match tiebreak. Believing he needed only seven points to win—as is standard in ATP Tour matches—he celebrated upon winning his seventh point. However, the chair umpire was forced to intervene, informing the Austrian that Grand Slam qualifying tiebreaks are played to 10 points.
The interruption completely shifted the momentum. Rattled, Ofner proceeded to lose 12 of the next 16 points, surrendering the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11) to the 20-year-old Basavareddy. The American sealed the remarkable comeback and punctuated it with the "choke" gesture popularized by NBA stars Reggie Miller and Tyrese Haliburton.
Basavareddy advances to the final qualifying round against Great Britain's George Loffhagen. Ofner, meanwhile, addressed the painful hiccup with blunt resignation on an Instagram story, posting simply: "S**t happens."
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